B - BARNES-HOLMES,D.(2006) - A Functional Approach to the Study of Human Emotion

7/30/2019 B - BARNES-HOLMES,D.(2006) - A Functional Approach to the Study of Human Emotion

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A Functional Approach to the Study of Human Emotion:

The Centrality of Relational/Propositional Processes

Dermot Barnes-Holmes & Sean Hughes

National University of Ireland Maynooth

Word count (text body and references): 3006

Corresponding Author: Sean Hughes

Department of Psychology

National University of Ireland Maynooth

Co. Kildare

Ireland

Email:[email protected]: +353 1 708 6183

IntroductionHow stimuli come to acquire, maintain and change their emotional properties or functionshas long captured the empirical and theoretical attention of learning psychologists. For cognitive

researchers this question has often involved examining the role that associative learning processes play in

the development, persistence and generalisation of fear, phobias, likes and dislikes, anxiety, avoidance and

disgust (see other chapters in the current volume for a detailed overview). Some associative models also

incorporate indirect learning processes (e.g. vicarious conditioning) or propositions and expectancies to

account for human emotional learning. At its core this work is often guided by a mechanistic, mediational

approach to psychological sciencethe goal of which is to understand the mental processes or

representations that give rise to and guide behaviour (e.g. associations). At the same time a philosophically

and conceptually distinct approach called functional contextualism (referred to hereafter as the functional

approach) has also sought to understand many of these same phenomena. In contrast, this framework

explains emotional behaviour exclusively in terms of the interactions that occur between people in and with

their past and present environments without making reference to any mental constructs.

The present chapter aims to introduce readers to the functional approach and explain how it is

currently being applied to the study of human emotion. To provide a context and rationale for the
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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procedures and theory to follow, we begin by briefly outlining the core assumptions of this framework as

well as highlighting its points of departure from modern cognitive psychology. We then draw on Relational

Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001) to illustrate how both the emergence of, and

changes in, emotional responding can be understood from this perspective. Finally, we end by considering

how this work has provided the foundation for a third-wave behavioural therapy termed Acceptance and

Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda & Lillis, 2006; Gaudiano, 2011).

The Functional Approach: An Overview The functional approach to psychology is guided by three

primary goals: to understand, predict and influence behaviour by identifying and then directly manipulating

features of the individuals environment. The aim here is not to build ever-increasing lists of behavioural

effects but rather abstract out the environmental causes of behaviour into general behavioural principles

that apply across a wide range of different situations (e.g. the principles of reinforcement, punishment, and

stimulus generalization). Functional theories are established when researchers explain a range of different

behavioural interactions by drawing on a set of inter-related behavioural principles. Such theories are not

driven by mediating mental constructsinstead they describe and seek to explain observed regularities in

the functional relations between environmental events and behaviour. The validity and utility of any

functional account is therefore based on two pragmatic criteria its ability to predict and influence

behaviour with scope (i.e. encompass a wide range of behaviours across a variety of situations) and

precision (explain those findings accurately). Finally, and contrary to popular belief, the functional

approach to psychology is interested in all types of behaviour that occur both inside and outside the skin.

Publicly observable as well as private behaviours (e.g. thinking, feeling, imagining, and remembering) can

equally be subjected to a detailed functional analysis and researchers have refined such an approach for

several decades now.

An example of a functional theory that seeks to explain a wide variety of public and private

behaviours using only a handful of interrelated principles is RFT (Hayes et al., 2001). This account

suggests that humans are capable of learning in ways that differ markedly from non-humans. Specifically,

our ability and tendency to relate stimuli bi-directionality (see below) allows for the emergence of complex

untrained relations that cannot be traced to a history of direct training or learning. According to RFT, this

form of relational learning emerges early on in our development through interactions with the verbal


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community and is an important defining element of both human language and cognition. In the following

section we argue that a systematic analysis of these relational abilities may prove essential for explaining

how a diverse range of emotional properties can be acquired and changed without any prior training or

instruction.

Relational Frame Theory and the Emergence of Human Emotional Responding To illustrate a

functional approach to the study of complex and novel human behaviour, consider the following

experimental procedure called Matching-To-Sample (MTS). Participants are shown a computer screen that

contains an abstract shape or non-sense word at the top of the screen and three other arbitrary shapes or

non-sense words at the bottom of the screen1. Through trial and error learning they are taught to select one

comparison stimulus (termed B here for convenience) when presented with a sample stimulus (A) at

the top of the screen (i.e. match A to B). If verbally able humans are then presented with B as the sample

stimulus and A as one of three different stimuli at the bottom of the screen, they will generally choose the

latter despite having never received any reinforcement or feedback for doing so. In other words, if choosing

A in the presence of B is explicitly taught participants will spontaneously derive the relation B-A. When

the same participants are then taught a second stimulus relation - such as choosing B in the presence of C -

the number of relations that they derive increases. For example, if a person is taught to match A to B and B

to C they may subsequently match B to A and C to B (symmetry relations) as well as A to C and C to A

(equivalence relations). This spontaneous emergence of a specific set of novel, untrained and bi-directional

relations among stimuli is termed stimulus equivalence (Sidman, 1994).

The importance of derived stimulus relating to emotion researchers in particular rests on one final

behavioural process termed transfer of function. This refers to the finding that when a set of relations is

established among stimuli the psychological or emotional functions of one stimulus may alter the emotional

functions of the other related stimuli in the absence of any training or instruction. Imagine, for example,

that an equivalence relation is established among stimuli (A, B, C, D) and then, using a Pavlovian

conditioning procedure stimulus B is paired with an electrical shock. When participants subsequently

encounter the C and D stimuli they typically report fear and produce signs of physiological arousal even

though these stimuli were never directly associated with an emotional event (e.g. Auguston & Dougher,

1997). This effect has now been replicated across a range of different emotions including anxiety (Smyth,


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Barnes-Holmes & Forsyth, 2006), fear (Valverde, Luciano & Barnes-Holmes, 2009), mood states (Barnes-

Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Smeets & Luciano, 2004) and sexual arousal (Roche & Barnes, 1997). However,

as we shall see in the next section, the transfer of psychological functions is not restricted to equivalence

relations but also readily occurs through other more complex stimulus relations.

Relational Frame Theory and Maladaptive Human Emotional Responding According to RFT,

equivalence is the most common and fundamental way stimuli can be related - but only one of a large

number of different types of stimulus relations. Just as people can respond to stimuli as being equivalent,

they may also relate them as opposite, different, greater or less than one another. Critically, when

increasingly complex relations between and among stimuli are involved the psychological or emotional

functions are not simply transferred but rathertransformedaccording to the way in which stimuli are

related. For example, if A is Opposite to B and A is then paired with shock the fear arousing functions of A

will not necessarily transfer to B. Rather the emotional functions of B may come to be transformed in-line

with the relationin this instance by acquiring reinforcing functions. As such, humans can find stimuli

directly paired with unpleasant events as pleasurable or reinforcing when the relation established is one of

opposition (Whelan & Barnes-Holmes, 2004) or More/Less than (Whelan, Barnes-Holmes & Dymond,

2006)2.

To date, the transformation of functions has been replicated for both fear and sexual responses. To

demonstrate the former, Dougher and colleagues (2007) provided half of their participants with training to

establish three nonsense symbols (A, B, C) as meaning smallest, middle, and largest (the other half

did not receive such training). Thereafter, the B stimulus was then paired with an electric shock for all

participants. Results showed that for those who received relational training, the fear established for the B

stimulus was indirectly acquired by both A and C - but in a non-equivalent way. Specifically, the A

stimulus elicited a smaller fear response than B whereas C (despite having never been associated with

shock) elicited a larger fear response than either A or B. Participants who did not receive any relational

training showed higher skin conductance changes to B relative to A and C. These findings suggest that

when stimuli are related in increasingly complex ways humans can come to fear relatively harmless stimuli

more than those that were directly associated with aversive events. As noted above, human sexual arousal


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functions have also been shown to transform based on complex stimulus relations involving Same and

Opposite (Roche & Barnes, 1997).

The derived transformation of functions also has a number of theoretical and clinical implications

relevant to the study of maladaptive emotions. On the one hand, many contemporary associative learning

accounts frame emotional disorders as a product of direct aversive conditioning with treatments based on

the assumption that extinction (i.e. repeatedly non-reinforced exposure to the feared object or event) will

successfully alleviate these problematic behaviours (see Mineka & Zinbarg, 2006 for discussion). Yet many

people suffering from emotional problems do not necessarily have a history of direct conditioning with

respect to the stimuli that they are anxious about. Derived stimulus relating may offer one explanation for

how maladaptive emotional responses may emerge for stimuli that have never been directly associated with

emotional events in the past. On the other hand, the clinical significance of a stimulus is not always its

particular emotional function (e.g. fear) but rather the extent to which it engenders avoidance behaviour

(Auguston & Dougher, 1997, p.183). For instance, treatment is often sought for phobias not due to fear for

a particular object/event, but rather due to the deleterious effects that avoiding such stimuli/situations has

on the persons everyday life (see Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). According to RFT, if emotional

functions can be indirectly acquired by stimuli then people may also attempt to avoid those stimuli even

though they have never previously been associated with aversive events. Consistent with this assumption,

avoidance respondinglike emotional functionshas been found to transfer through stimulus relations.

Recall that in the Auguston and Dougher (1997) study, two equivalence relations were established (A1-B1-

C1-D1 and A2-B2-C2-D2) and B1 was paired with an electrical shock and B2 with no shock. In a second

study, the same procedure was employed but participants were also taught they could avoid being shocked

by repeatedly pressing a button in the presence of B. Following training, participants pressed the key in the

presence of not only B but also the A and C stimuli from the first relation but did not press the button for

any of stimuli from the second relation. Dymond and colleagues (2008) demonstrated similar results for the

derived transformation of avoidance through Same-Opposite relations using picture stimuli.

Finally, derived stimulus relating not only allows for the transformation of novel, untrained

emotional functions from stimulus to stimulus but also for their extinction. A number of studies have now

shown that when the emotional functions of one stimulus are extinguished the emotional properties of


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related stimuli are typically extinguished as well (e.g., Dougher et al., 1994; Roche & Barnes, 1997).

Interestingly however, in a recent study Luciano et al. (2011) failed to report evidence for the direct or

derived extinction of fear (measured using skin conductance) or avoidance functions in two separate

experiments. In a third experiment however, while no extinction or reduction of fear was obtained,

avoidance of the feared stimuli was eliminated following an analogue protocol based on Acceptance and

Commitment Therapy. Given that fear, avoidance and behavioural extinction play an important role in the

aetiology and maintenance of psychopathology, it is to this functionally based psychotherapy that we now

turn.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT is founded on the core theoretical premise ofRFT (that

language and cognition are inherently relational in nature) and strongly connects to the basic research

program outlined above on derived stimulus relating (see Gaudiano, 2011 for a review). Whereas

traditional cognitive based therapies attribute psychopathology to maladaptive or biased patterns of

information processing which require modification for healthy psychological functioning, ACT proponents

argue thatpsychological problems often result from psychological inflexibility. This concept broadly

refers to the excessive regulation of behaviour by derived relations, rather than direct reinforcement

contingencies accessible to the person in their wider environment (termed cognitive fusion) and the

attempted avoidance of private behaviours such as thoughts, feelings and memories, even when doing so

results in psychological duress (termed experiential avoidance). Cognitive fusion and experiential

avoidance are suggested to give rise to and maintain a restricted behavioral repertoire, which in turn

generates in a wide range of psychopathological behaviors. Instead of altering information processing

biases using techniques such as rational deliberation and behavioral experiments, ACT aims to change the

psychological functions of private events and the individuals relationship to them through strategies such

as mindfulness, acceptance, or cognitive defusion (Hayes et al., 2006, p.6) so that self-defined values can

be achieved, even when symptomatic behavior remains. In other words, and contrary to most traditional

psychotherapeutic approaches, symptom reduction - while certainly welcomed - is not the primary goal of

ACT. Rather it is enabling the person to behave in a value or goal consistent manner. To illustrate this,

consider the Luciano et al. study mentioned previously. Although participants still responded fearfully

towards the directly trained as well as derived stimuli, they did not attempt to avoid those stimuli after


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receiving an ACT intervention that targeted avoidance but not fear. Critically, a rapidly growing literature

of correlational, mediation and experimental psychopathology studies, as well as randomized control trials,

support ACTs utility across a range of domains. Moreover, a number of studies have directly implicated

the psychological processes hypothesized by ACT as central to positive treatment outcomes (see Gaudiano,

2011).

Conclusion A wealth of research indicates that stimuli can come to acquire, maintain and change their

emotional properties through respondent learning. In this instance the psychological functions of stimuli are

established or modified through direct contingencies and/or on the basis of physical similarity between

stimuli (generalisation). At the same time, a rich and active empirical program has recently emerged from

the functional tradition that indicates emotional properties can also emerge, be transferred, transformed and

extinguished through the largely human ability to spontaneously derive untrained, novel relations between

and among stimuli in a bi-directional fashion. This progress at the theoretical and basic research levels has

provided the foundation for an empirically-supported treatment protocol in the form of ACT. According to

this approach, derived stimulus relating and the transformation of function through those relations can often

undermine the persons ability to respond appropriately to changing environmental contingencies and result

in a wide range of psychological problems. Consequentially, ACT proponents attempt to promote

psychological flexibility through the use of mindfulness, acceptance, commitment and behaviour change

processes.

References

Auguston, E.M. & Dougher, M.J. (1997). The transfer of avoidance evoking functions through stimulus

equivalence classes.Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 28, 181 -191.

Barnes-Holmes, Y., Barnes-Holmes, D., Smeets, P., & Luiano, C. (2004). A derived transfer of mood

functions through equivalence relations. The Psychological Record, 54(1), 95-113.

De Houwer, J. (2011). Why the cognitive approach to psychology would profit from a functional approach

and vice versa.Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 202-209.


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Dougher, M., Hamilton, D., Fink, B., & Harrington, J. (2007). Transformation of the discriminative and

eliciting functions of generalized relational stimuli.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,

88(2), 179-197.

Dugdale, N & Lowe, F. (2000). Testing for symmetry in the conditional discriminations of language -

trained chimpanzees.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 73, 5-22.

Dymond, S., Roche, B., Forsyth, J.P, Whelen, R., & Rhoden, J. (2008). Derived avoidance learning:

Transformation of avoidance response functions in accordance with the relational frames of same and

opposite. The Psychological Record, 58, 271-288.

Gaudiano, B. A. (2011). A review of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and recommendations for

continued scientific advancement. The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 8 , 5-22.

Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (Eds.). (2001). Relational Frame Theory: A Post -

Skinnerian account of human language and cognition . New York: Plenum Press.

Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and commitment

therapy: Model, processes and outcomes.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 125.

Luciano, C., Valdivia-Salas, S., Ruiz, F., Valverde, M., Barnes-Holmes, D., et al., (2011). Altering direct

and derived avoidance responding. The role of extinguishing directly established aversive eliciting function

and the role of verbally motivating protocols. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Mineka, S., & Zinbarg, R. (2006). A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety

disorders: Its not what you thought it was.American Psychologist, 61(1), 10-26.

Roche, B., & Barnes, D. (1997). A transformation of respondently conditioned stimulus functions in

accordance with arbitrarily applicable relations.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 67, 275-

301.

Sidman, M. (1994).Equivalence relations and behavior: A research story. Boston: Authors Cooperative.

Valverde, M.R., Luciano, C. & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2009). Transfer of aversive respondent elicitation in

accordance with equivalence relations.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 92(1), 85-111.

Whelan, R., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2004). The transformation of consequential functions in accordance

with the relational frames of same and opposite.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 82, 177-

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Whelan, R., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Dymond, S. (2006). The transformation of consequential functions in

accordance with the relational frames of more-than and less-than. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of

Behavior, 86(3), 317-335.


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1Although visual stimuli are often used, derived relational responding has also been demonstrated with

auditory, olfactory, haptic and gustatory modalities.


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2Functional researchers typically generate complex relations between stimuli using contextual cues that are themselvesestablished using the Matching-To-Sample procedure mentioned previously. Specifically, a nonsense word or symbol(i.e. contextual cue), a sample stimulus and three or more comparison stimuli are presented on a computer screen.If theto-be-trained OPPOSITE cue is presented, choosing the comparison stimulus (e.g. large square) that is furthestremoved from the sample (e.g. small square) along some physical dimension is reinforced. On alternate trials the to-be-trained SAME cue is presented and choosing the comparison which is physically identical to the sample isreinforced. Participants are trained in this way across a variety of situations (e.g., big and small circles, thick and thin

lines, few and many dots) until they respond appropriately to novel samples and comparisons in the presence of theSAME and OPPOSITE cues in the absence of reinforcement.

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B - BARNES-HOLMES,D.(2006) - A Functional Approach to the Study of Human Emotion