Hayes' relational frames theory

Language is one of the most important capacities for the human being. It is part of our way of communicating and even of our thought processes (after all, when we reason, we usually do it through subvocal speech). This ability has been studied from very different points of view and theoretical currents. How do we get it? How is it possible that we establish relationships between the symbol and reality, or between constructs or concepts?

Some of the currents that have asked these questions are behaviorism and its derivatives, and in this sense different theories have been developed that can explain it. One of them is Hayes' relational frames theory..

• Related article: "Behaviorism: history, concepts and main authors"

A theory based on behaviorism

The relational frame theory of Steven C. Hayes is an attempt to offer an explanation as to why we are capable of making the different associations between language and reality, affecting both communicational and cognitive processes. It is therefore a theory that explores and attempts to explain language, cognition and the relationship between the two.

Be part of a conception derived from operant conditioning and behavioral analysis, with the challenge of trying to explain the complexity of language and thought as a result of the association between our behaviors and their consequences. Unlike classical behaviorism and the first versions of the operant, this theory starts from the idea that every word, acquisition of meaning, thought or cognitive process is considered an act or behavior acquired through learning throughout our life.

• Related article: "Paul Watzlawick's Theory of Human Communication"

This is Hayes' theory of relational frames

For Hayes' relational frame theory, our cognitive and linguistic capacity are based on the existence of relational behaviors, that is to say, of mental acts in which we relate various information or stimuli. Relational behavior is what allows us to generate networks of mental content, known under the name of relational frames.

Generation of relational frames

The beginning of these networks is in the conditioning. We learn to associate a word or a set of sounds to an element, such as the word ball to a ball. This fact is simple and allows us to establish a relationship between both stimuli. In this relationship, an equivalence is established between both stimuli. The word is equivalent to the meaning, and this to the word.

This property is known as mutual bonding. In addition, these same stimuli can be paired with other and from said relationship extract the possible relationship between the previously associated stimuli, also known as combinatorial linkage. In turn, capturing these relationships can cause changes and variations to be generated in the use and meaning of the stimulus in question, causing a transformation of its functions as more and more examples of different relationships between stimuli.

During our development we gradually learn to respond to the different equivalences observed throughout our growth, and over time the human being is able to establish a network of relationships or relational framework, the basis that we It allows learn, empower and make our language and cognition more and more elaborate.

For example, we learn that a specific word has a consequence at a given moment and, over time, we observe that in others places have others, so that we are associating associations and generating new interpretations and functions of language and thought.

• You may be interested: "Behaviorism and Constructivism in Psychology: theoretical bases and differences"

Where do relational frames come from?

The relational framework would therefore be a network of relationships established and reinforced from contextual keys. These relationships are arbitrary, not always depending on the stimulus itself and its characteristics, but on the relationships that we have made between it and other stimuli.

The relational framework does not appear out of nowhere but is generated by processing information from the environment and the social context. We learn the different keys that allow us to establish these relationships so that we understand if we are facing similar, different or comparable stimuli.

For example can start from the use of hierarchies, of space-time linkages, from the work, family or social environment or from the observation of the effects of one's own behavior or that of others. But not only does the medium participate, but there is also influence by aspects such as our will or the intention we have to do, say or think something.

Thus, we can speak of a relational context as a set of keys that indicate the meaning and type of relationship between stimuli. We also have a functional context, which starts from the psyche itself and causes that starting from our mind we can select the meaning we want to give it regardless of the medium per se.

Properties of relational frames

Although we have talked about the set of properties that allow establishing a relational framework, these frameworks also have interesting properties of their own to take into account.

As a result of conditioning and learning processes, it should be noted that relational frames are constructions that are acquired throughout development and that they also develop over time as new relationships and associations are added.

In this sense, the fact that they are very flexible and modifiable networks. After all, the transformation of stimulus functions acts continuously and can introduce changes.

Finally, the relational framework can be controlled both before and after its creation. emergence, depending on the subject being exposed to different stimulations whose consequences are manipulated or established. This last aspect is a great advantage when carrying out different types of treatment, such as in psychological therapy in cases of subjects with mental disorders.

• You may be interested: "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): principles and characteristics"

Operating rules are generated

The establishment of relational frameworks allows the human being to add and link the different meanings and signifiers that appear in his life. The different relationship frames are also linked to each other in a way that establishes an understanding of stimulation, such that our thinking and language are becoming increasingly complex.

From this language and the relationships established between stimuli, we generate invariants and norms of behavior from which we can regulate our behavior and adapt to the environment of the best possible way. And not only our behavior, but we also generate our identity, personality and way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Link with psychopathology

However, it must be taken into account that the links between words and stimuli can give rise to relational frameworks. harmful to the subject itself or to the generation of excessively lax or rigid rules of behavior that can degenerate in the suffering from different mental disorders, this being the explanation that the theory gives to the various disorders and the origin of currently remarkably successful therapies such as acceptance and commitment.

And it is that during the emergence it is possible that a network of associations is generated through the functional context that cause the patient to suffer, such as Consideration that the conduct itself does not have an effect on the environment, that the environment is an inhospitable and harmful place or that the subject himself has bad regard did himself.

They can also be generated negative categorizations that provoke aspects such as stereotypes or the lack of a sense of belonging. It also generates the need to control the environment or the struggle to maintain the equivalences and norms generated by the language itself through relational frameworks and one's own behavior. All this can generate that we evaluate the world or ourselves in a maladaptive and dysfunctional way.

Bibliographic references:

• Barnes-Holmes, D.; Rodríguez, M. and Whelan, R. (2005). The theory of relational frames and the experimental analysis of language and cognition. Latin American Journal of Psychology, 37 (2); 225-275.

• 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.

• Gómez-Martin, S.; López-Ríos, F.; Mesa-Manjón, H. (2007). Theory of relational frames: some implications for psychopathology and psychotherapy. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 7 (2); 491-507. Spanish Association of Behavioral Psychology. Granada, Spain.