Harte Colin, Barnes-Holmes Yvonne, Barnes-Holmes Dermot, McEnteggart Ciara
1 Ghent University, Belgium.
Behav Modif. 2017 Nov;41(6):743-763. doi: 10.1177/0145445517715871. Epub 2017 Jun 22.
Rule-governed behavior and its role in generating insensitivity to direct contingencies of reinforcement have been implicated in human psychological suffering. In addition, the human capacity to engage in derived relational responding has also been used to explain specific human maladaptive behaviors, such as irrational fears. To date, however, very little research has attempted to integrate research on contingency insensitivity and derived relations. The current work sought to fill this gap. Across two experiments, participants received either a direct rule (Direct Rule Condition) or a rule that involved a novel derived relational response (Derived Rule Condition). Provision of a direct rule resulted in more persistent rule-following in the face of competing contingencies, but only when the opportunity to follow the reinforced rule beforehand was relatively protracted. Furthermore, only in the Direct Rule Condition were there significant correlations between rule-compliance and stress. A post hoc interpretation of the findings is provided.
受规则支配的行为及其在产生对直接强化偶然性不敏感方面的作用已被认为与人类心理痛苦有关。此外，人类进行派生关系反应的能力也被用来解释特定的人类适应不良行为，如非理性恐惧。然而，迄今为止，很少有研究试图将关于偶然性不敏感和派生关系的研究整合起来。当前的研究旨在填补这一空白。在两项实验中，参与者要么接受直接规则（直接规则条件），要么接受涉及新颖派生关系反应的规则（派生规则条件）。提供直接规则会导致在面对相互竞争的偶然性时更持续地遵循规则，但前提是事先遵循强化规则的机会相对较长。此外，只有在直接规则条件下，规则遵守与压力之间才存在显著相关性。对研究结果进行了事后解释。
