Radical Behaviorism - RFT
T/F - This is an example of RELATIONAL RESPONDING: A hungry pigeon in an experimental chamber
pecks a red circle because it has received a food pellet in the past for doing so. - correct answer
✔✔FALSE - The absolute characteristics of the red circle alone control the pigeon's response. The pigeon
does not need to attend to any relations among the circles at all to make the response that is likely to be
reinforced. It just has to identify and peck the red circle each time. The pigeon's response and the
condition for obtaining reinforcement are not based on a relation among the circles.
T/F - This is an example of RELATIONAL RESPONDING: A hungry pigeon pecks the biggest circle because it
has received a food pellet in the past for doing so. - correct answer ✔✔TRUE - the relative characteristics
of the circles control the pigeon's response. This pigeon must attend to the relation of size among the
circles to make the response that is likely to be reinforced. Just pecking the same circle each time won't
work. The pigeon's response and the condition for obtaining reinforcement are based on a relation
among the circles. They are not based on the absolute characteristics of a single circle. With sufficient
training, most organisms can learn to respond to the relative, rather than absolute, physical properties of
stimuli like this.
Relative vs. Absolute Characteristics Physical Properties - correct answer ✔✔
What is responding to a stimulus or event based on its relation to another stimulus or event called? -
correct answer ✔✔Relational Responding
Which One is an example of Relational Responding:
1. When offered a selection of toys, the baby always chooses whichever toy has the smoothest surface.
2. When offered a selection of toys, the baby always chooses the toy she played with before. - correct
answer ✔✔1
Relational Frame - correct answer ✔✔A relational frame involves responding to several stimuli or events
based on the relations among them.
Relational frames are types of arbitrarily applicable relational responding that have the features of
mutual entailment, combinatorial entailment, and transformation of stimulus functions.
, Bidirectional - correct answer ✔✔a relation in one direction (such as A is smaller than B) implies a
relation in the other direction (such as B is bigger than A).
Mutual Entailment - correct answer ✔✔Responding to a relation in one direction entails responding to a
relation in the other direction. RFT refers to this bidirectional feature of relational responding as mutual
entailment
Combinatorial Entailment - correct answer ✔✔Two or more stimulus relations can mutually combine.
Responding to two combined relations (between A and B and between C and B) can entail a response to
a third relation (between A and C).
Transformation of stimulus functions - correct answer ✔✔The functions a stimulus has for a person can
be transformed or changed on the basis of how it is related to other stimuli.
Can animals respond to ARBITRARY PROPERTIES? - correct answer ✔✔No - arbitrarily applicable
relational responding is a human phenomenon and the basis for RFT
Contextual cues - correct answer ✔✔According to RFT, certain features of the context, such as phrases
like "is bigger than," become associated with certain types of relational responding. With enough
training, these contextual cues can start to predict reinforcement for making a particular type of
relational response. Contextual cues are what allow humans to arbitrarily apply relational responses.
These contextual cues, for example, allowed you to make an arbitrary relational response to these
triangles
What are some categories/families of Relational Frames? - correct answer ✔✔Coordination, Temporal,
Comparison, Distinction, Spatial, Causal, Deictic, Hierarchical, etc
How is "arbitrarily applicable" relational responding different from "regular" relational responding? -
correct answer ✔✔Arbitrarily applicable relational responding is based on contextual cues other than
just the physical properties of the related stimuli.
RFT considers a history of arbitrarily applying relational responses to be part of the ________________
that can be studied to help predict and influence the deriving of stimulus relations. - correct answer
✔✔Context
T/F - This is an example of RELATIONAL RESPONDING: A hungry pigeon in an experimental chamber
pecks a red circle because it has received a food pellet in the past for doing so. - correct answer
✔✔FALSE - The absolute characteristics of the red circle alone control the pigeon's response. The pigeon
does not need to attend to any relations among the circles at all to make the response that is likely to be
reinforced. It just has to identify and peck the red circle each time. The pigeon's response and the
condition for obtaining reinforcement are not based on a relation among the circles.
T/F - This is an example of RELATIONAL RESPONDING: A hungry pigeon pecks the biggest circle because it
has received a food pellet in the past for doing so. - correct answer ✔✔TRUE - the relative characteristics
of the circles control the pigeon's response. This pigeon must attend to the relation of size among the
circles to make the response that is likely to be reinforced. Just pecking the same circle each time won't
work. The pigeon's response and the condition for obtaining reinforcement are based on a relation
among the circles. They are not based on the absolute characteristics of a single circle. With sufficient
training, most organisms can learn to respond to the relative, rather than absolute, physical properties of
stimuli like this.
Relative vs. Absolute Characteristics Physical Properties - correct answer ✔✔
What is responding to a stimulus or event based on its relation to another stimulus or event called? -
correct answer ✔✔Relational Responding
Which One is an example of Relational Responding:
1. When offered a selection of toys, the baby always chooses whichever toy has the smoothest surface.
2. When offered a selection of toys, the baby always chooses the toy she played with before. - correct
answer ✔✔1
Relational Frame - correct answer ✔✔A relational frame involves responding to several stimuli or events
based on the relations among them.
Relational frames are types of arbitrarily applicable relational responding that have the features of
mutual entailment, combinatorial entailment, and transformation of stimulus functions.
, Bidirectional - correct answer ✔✔a relation in one direction (such as A is smaller than B) implies a
relation in the other direction (such as B is bigger than A).
Mutual Entailment - correct answer ✔✔Responding to a relation in one direction entails responding to a
relation in the other direction. RFT refers to this bidirectional feature of relational responding as mutual
entailment
Combinatorial Entailment - correct answer ✔✔Two or more stimulus relations can mutually combine.
Responding to two combined relations (between A and B and between C and B) can entail a response to
a third relation (between A and C).
Transformation of stimulus functions - correct answer ✔✔The functions a stimulus has for a person can
be transformed or changed on the basis of how it is related to other stimuli.
Can animals respond to ARBITRARY PROPERTIES? - correct answer ✔✔No - arbitrarily applicable
relational responding is a human phenomenon and the basis for RFT
Contextual cues - correct answer ✔✔According to RFT, certain features of the context, such as phrases
like "is bigger than," become associated with certain types of relational responding. With enough
training, these contextual cues can start to predict reinforcement for making a particular type of
relational response. Contextual cues are what allow humans to arbitrarily apply relational responses.
These contextual cues, for example, allowed you to make an arbitrary relational response to these
triangles
What are some categories/families of Relational Frames? - correct answer ✔✔Coordination, Temporal,
Comparison, Distinction, Spatial, Causal, Deictic, Hierarchical, etc
How is "arbitrarily applicable" relational responding different from "regular" relational responding? -
correct answer ✔✔Arbitrarily applicable relational responding is based on contextual cues other than
just the physical properties of the related stimuli.
RFT considers a history of arbitrarily applying relational responses to be part of the ________________
that can be studied to help predict and influence the deriving of stimulus relations. - correct answer
✔✔Context
