Carmen Luciano (University of Almeria)Carmen Luciano (University of Almeria)Jennifer L. Boulanger (University of Nevada Reno)Jennifer L. Boulanger (University of Nevada Reno)

Ian Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway)Ian Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway)

Overview of WorkshopOverview of Workshop• PART 1

– RFT and the Self– Empirical Model of Self– Perspective Taking– Three Selves

• PART 2– Applications– Experiential exercises

RFT & The SelfRFT & The Self

RFT and the SelfRFT and the Self

• The self is a core concept in ACT, in psychotherapy and psychology more generally

• Skinner suggested the concept of the self is based on the discrimination of one’s own behavior

That definition seems a bit on the simplistic side…

Verbal vs Nonverbal Verbal vs Nonverbal Self-KnowledgeSelf-Knowledge

• Animals know what they experience• Learned through direct experience

with contingencies in their environment

• Animals can be trained to report their own experience

DRL scheduleDRH schedule

Reinforcer

LATTAL (1975)

(SLOW)

(FAST)

Nonverbal Self-KnowledgeNonverbal Self-Knowledge

• Nonverbal self-awareness – Responding to one’s own behavior

• Nonverbal self– The physical organism

Verbal Self-KnowledgeVerbal Self-Knowledge

• Humans don’t simply behave with regard to their own behavior - they respond verbally with regard to their own behavior

RFT & LanguageRFT & Language

• According to RFT, the core of human language is the ability to arbitrarily relate objects and events, thus changing the psychological functions of those events

• This is referred to as arbitrarily applicable relational responding or relational framing

• To explain this concept, we first distinguish between non arbitrary and arbitrarily applicable relations

NON-ARBITRARY (PHYSICAL) RELATIONS

ARBITRARILY APPLICABLE RELATIONS

‘SAME’

‘MORE THAN’

‘OPPOSITE’

Better Worse

‘IS’

‘APPLE’

5c10c

Non Arbitrary & Arbitrarily Applicable Non Arbitrary & Arbitrarily Applicable RelationsRelations

CONTEXTUAL CUE

Apple

Ull

1. Mutual 1. Mutual EntailmentEntailment

2. Combinatorial 2. Combinatorial EntailmentEntailment

3. Transformation3. Transformationof Functionsof Functions

RELATIONAL FRAME THEORYRELATIONAL FRAME THEORY

PROPERTIES OF ARBITRARILY APPLICABLE RELATIONAL RESPONDING

sweetsalivation

smooth red

sweetsalivation

smooth redull

RFT & LanguageRFT & Language

• Any object in a relational frame is a verbal object

• Our own responding can be part of a relational frame and hence it can be verbal

• In less technical language, we can talk about our own behavior

I wandered lonely as a cloud…

I’ve been practising my ‘friendly’ smile

… see?

An empirical model of self An empirical model of self awarenessawareness

Modeling verbal discrimination of ‘self’ Modeling verbal discrimination of ‘self’ behaviour behaviour

(Dymond & Barnes, 1994)(Dymond & Barnes, 1994)

A1 - B1 - C1

A2 - B2 - C2

A3 - B3 - C3

SR+

SR+

Transfer of self

discrimination response

functions

• We can compare our behavior either to a different example of our own behavior (e.g., “I used to know that but I’ve forgotten”) or to someone else’s behavior (e.g., “She swam faster than me”)

Transformation of self-discrimination responseTransformation of self-discrimination response functions via comparative relations functions via comparative relations

B1

C2C1

B2

A1

Same Less

Same More

Same

Less

More

Train 1 Response Train 1 Response FunctionFunction

Test 1 Response Function

Test 2 Response Function

Test 0 Response Function

Dymond and Barnes (1995)

Verbal Self-DiscriminationVerbal Self-Discrimination

• Verbal reports of one’s own behavior, or of the contingencies controlling it, can alter the functions of both– The light side --- EXAMPLE?...– The dark side --- EXAMPLE?...

–Self-instructions can reduce the effects of temporal delays in reinforcement

–Self-knowledge of aversive events is itself aversive

PerspectivePerspectiveTakingTaking

Perspective-TakingPerspective-Taking• Most relational frames are based

on formal or non-arbitrary counterparts– This chair is bigger than that chair– Steve has less hair than Homer

<

• Some frames have no non-arbitrary counterparts and must be taught through demonstration and multiple exemplars

• Such frames include DEICTIC frames or perspective-taking frames– I-YOU– HERE-THERE– NOW-THEN

Perspective-TakingPerspective-Taking

Development of Perspective-TakingDevelopment of Perspective-Taking

• The verbal community trains a child to make self-discriminations by asking questions such as– What am I doing over here?– What are you doing now?

• Perspective is the invariant that is abstracted from these discriminations– I-YOU, HERE-THERE, NOW-THEN

• It is responding to responding from a particular locus

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolate

I hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother calling

I see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dog

I touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot pan

I go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to school

I think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my father

I am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolateI hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother calling

I see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dog

I touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot pan

I go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to school

I think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my father

I am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolateI hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother callingI see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dog

I touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot pan

I go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to school

I think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my father

I am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolateI hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother callingI see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dogI touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot pan

I go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to school

I think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my father

I am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolateI hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother callingI see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dogI touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot pan

I go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to school

I think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my father

I am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolateI hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother callingI see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dogI touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot pan

I go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to school

I think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my fatherI am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

I eat breadI eat ice creamI eat a steakI eat chocolateI hear musicI hear a driving carI hear birds singingI hear my mother callingI see a deskI see you comingI see a bright futureI see and hear a dogI touch the screenI touch my faceI touch into the waterI touch the hot panI go to my officeI go homeI go into the darkI go back to schoolI think of my workI think of your painI think of lunchtimeI think of my fatherI am goodI am badI am a husbandI am a doctor

• Abstraction of one’s perspective requires– Sufficiently well developed relational repertoire– Extensive history of multiple exemplars that take

advantage of that repertoire

• Deictic frames build upon simpler relations that are true relative to a given perspective– Which is your left hand?– Which way is left?

Development of Perspective-TakingDevelopment of Perspective-Taking

Perspective-TakingPerspective-Taking• A person is always speaking from the

perspective of I-HERE-NOW about events that happen THERE and THEN

• Words like I and YOU do not define perspective-taking frames; they are Crels that often control perspective-taking frames

• Responding in accordance with deictic frames allows us to evaluate, compare, contrast, and judge events from a constant perspective

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Errors

Adults Adoles. Late C/hood

Mid C/hood

Early C/hood

Age Range

McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, & Barnes-Holmes (2004)Development of

Perspective Taking

• Deictic relational framing (I-You, Here-There, Now-Then) ability correlates with data from Theory of Mind studies

A Single Relation Task

I have a white brick and you have a red brick

Which brick do you have?

Which brick do I have?

I am sitting here on the blue chair and you are sitting there on the black chair

and THERE was HERE

Where would I be sitting?

Here: There:

A Reversed Relation Task

Where would you be sitting?

If HERE was THERE

Yesterday I was sitting there on the black chair, today I am sitting here on the blue chair

and NOW was THEN and THEN was NOW

Where would I be sitting now?

Now: Then:

A Double Reversed Relation Task

Where would you be sitting then?

If HERE was THERE and THERE was HERE

Here: There:

Further Research on DeicticsFurther Research on Deictics• Relational repertoires required for

perspective taking follow a distinct developmental profile and are comprised of functionally distinct relational components (McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes & Stewart, 2006)

• Deictic relations are generalized operants (Weil, 2007)

• Deictic relations can be trained (e.g., Heagle &

Rehfeldt, 2006) including in children with autistic spectrum disorders with perspective-taking deficits (Rehfeldt, Dillen, Ziomek & Kowalchuk, 2007)

The 3 SelvesThe 3 Selves

• In RFT, self is defined by participation of one’s behavior in relational frames and networks

• Verbal behavior gives rise to three types of self– Object of verbal knowledge

• The conceptualized self• Self as content

– Process of verbal knowledge • The knowing self• Self as process

– Locus of verbal knowledge • transcendent self• Self as context or perspective

The Three SelvesThe Three Selves

Self-as-Content (Conceptualized Self)

• Descriptive and evaluative relational networks that I construct HERE and NOW when talking about I (or my behaviors) THERE and THEN– I’m lazy. I’m a good cook. I’m a loyal friend.

• We tend to organize our own histories and tendencies into a coherent relational network– Ignore contradictory evidence, amplify confirmatory

evidence, act in ways that avoid disconfirmation

Self-as-Content (Conceptualized Self)

• Well-elaborated– Touches on every verbally known aspect of

life (e.g. history, situation, preferences, abilities, private events)

• Multi-layered– Strong social contingencies support different

depths of self-knowledge in different contexts

• Rigid– Historical, and thus, seemingly unchangeable– Basis for reason-giving

Self-as-Content (Conceptualized Self)

• The product of evaluative processes are defended, while the process itself rarely noticed

• Difficulties occur when products of relational responding are treated as True, Real aspects of the world– This is a good book vs. I evaluate this book as good– I am anxious vs. I feel my heart beating fast and I

have the urge to run away from this situation.– You are obnoxious vs. I think ‘you are obnoxious’

Self-as-Process (Knowing Self)

• Ongoing, fluid awareness of the action of relating events verbally – I feel, I think, I wonder, I like, I hear, I remember…

• Extremely useful in behavioral regulation – Allows others to predict behavior without knowledge

of individual history– Self-rules would be much less effective without this

kind of self-knowledge

• Threats to self-as-process – Inadequate training by verbal community – Experiential avoidance

Self-as-Process (Knowing Self)

• The knowing self feeds the conceptualized self and is necessary to contact the transcendent self– In order to know that “I am a depressed

person”, I must first know that I frequently feel sad and have low energy across many contexts

– Self-monitoring and awareness are required to observe the observer

Self-as-ProcessSelf-as-ProcessClinical IssuesClinical Issues

• Weak self knowledge– Difficulty observing and describing

current thoughts, emotions, sensations– Inability to persist in or change focus

• Dominance of conceptualized past and future– Present moment is lost to worry and

rumination

• What have you noticed in your clients?

Self-as-ProcessSelf-as-Process Clinical IssuesClinical Issues

• What ACT processes would you target in order to develop a sense of knowing self?

• ACT Techniques– Leaves on stream, soldiers on parade– Cubbyholing (labeling)– Observing sensations, body scan– Any, all mindfulness exercises

Self-as-Context(Transcendent Self)

• The sense of self as perspective or of psychological locus– The invariant in all self-discriminations

• Experiential link between verbal and nonverbal knowledge (repertoires)– Not thing-like: no limits, unchanging, ever-present

• Not itself verbal, though it is a product of a verbal history– Cannot be contacted verbally, only experienced

directly

Self-as-ContextSelf-as-Context Clinical Issues Clinical Issues

• No/unstable sense of self• Stigma, objectification of others• Low empathy and self-compassion• Difficulties with intimacy, connecting

with others• What have you noticed in your own

clients? In your own lives?• How would you help clients develop a

sense of self as perspective?

Self-as-Context Self-as-Context TechniquesTechniques

• Observer exercise• Chessboard metaphor• Box full of stuff• The documentary of you• Expanding awareness• You as child, you as older adult• Perspective shifting• When would you not be you?

Perspective-Taking & the 3 Perspective-Taking & the 3 SelvesSelves

Self as ContentI am male

I am 34 years old

I am a son and a brother

I am generous

Etc.

Self as ProcessI am feeling nervous

I am feeling defensive

I want to escape

Etc.

ME

BAD

NOTHING BUT TROUBLE

STUPID

WORTHLESS

EVERYONE LAUGHS AT ME

NO-ONE LOVES ME

UNWORTHY OF THE

AFFECTION OR TRUST

OF OTHERS

MUST AVOID INTIMACY

FEELINGS OF LONELINESS

LONELY SAD INDIVIDUAL

Lack of contact with social contingencies

Self as Content

I am a worthless person

Self as Process

I feel so worthless right now

AND

I am having the thought that I am worthless

I am having the feeling that I am worthless right now

FUSION AND DEFUSIONFUSION AND DEFUSION

Hierarchical

RelationHierarchical

Relation

Carmen Luciano (University of Almeria)Carmen Luciano (University of Almeria)Jennifer L. Boulanger (University of Nevada Reno)Jennifer L. Boulanger (University of Nevada Reno)

Ian Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway)Ian Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway)

Non-Verbal Non-Verbal KnowingKnowing

Verbal Verbal KnowingKnowing

Self-as-ProcessSelf-as-ProcessSelf-as-Self-as-ContentContent

Self-as-Self-as-ContextContext

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." Wittgenstein

Verbal & Verbal & Non-Verbal Non-Verbal KnowledgeKnowledge

Nonverbal Nonverbal KnowingKnowing

• Nonverbal self– Locus of nonverbal knowledge– Ongoing behavioral stream– Biological organism

• Nonverbal knowledge– Organism’s non-relational

behavioral repertoire

• Nature of knowing: direct behavioral processes – Operant and classical

conditioning– Stimulus and response

generalization based on formal properties of events in evolutionary sense

Verbal KnowingVerbal Knowing

• Verbal self– Object of verbal knowledge– Process of verbal knowledge– Locus of verbal knowledge

• Verbal knowledge– Behavioral functions established through networks of

derived stimulus relations

• Nature of verbal knowledge– Derived and arbitrarily applicable relational

responding

Nonverbal Verbal

Locus of KnowingDirect

processes: operant/classical conditioning; stim gen based

on formal properties

“I” perspectiv

e

Behavioral stream; biological organism

Nature of

Knowing

Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding

KNOWING