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Learning and behav io r therapy / William O'Do no hu e, edito r.
p. cm.
I nclu des biblio graphical references and ndex.
I SBN 0-205-18609-2
1. Behav io r therapy. 2. Learning. I. O'Do no hu e, William T.
R C489.B4L39 1997
616.89'142dc21

97-10769
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Printed in the United States o f A merica
109 8 7 654 321 01 0099 98 97
375 RULE- GOVERNED BEHAVIOR
CHAPTER 18
THE APPLIED 1MPLICATIONS
OF RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR
Steven C. Hayes
Winifred Ju
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treadingtreadingtill it seemed
That Sense was breaking through-
As al! the Heavens were a Bel!,
And Being, but an Ear,
And 1, and Silence, some strange Race
Wreaked, solitary, here-
And 1 heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
The Spacebegan to toll,
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum-
Kept beatingbeatingtill I thought
My Mind was going numb-
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down-
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowingthen-
-Emily Dickinson 830- 1886)
Verbal behav io r is a do minant as pect o f hu man
life. Hu mans talk to each o ther and to them-
s elv es , they talk bo th in the pres ence o f and in the
abs ence o f an au dience, and they talk bo th
o v ertly and co v ertly. Edu catio n, religio n, go v -
ernment, and ps ycho therapy all largely inv o lv e
peo ple' s altering the behav io r o f peo ple thro u gh
langu age.
Peo ple learn bo th by co ntacting ev ents firs t
hand and by being to ld abo u t thes e ev ents . They
change their behav io r in the pres ence o f bo th
no nv erbal and v erbal s timu li. I n behav io ral terms ,
we can s ay that actio ns can be bo th co ntingency-
s haped and tale-go v emed (Skinner, 1969).
Behav io r analys ts hav e dis co v ered a nu mber o f
pro perties o f antecedent v erbal s timu li, o r
"ru les ," that hav e impo rtant implicatio ns fo r clin-
icians with res pect to the therapeu tic s trategies
they u tilize. Thes e findings s u gges t that ru le-go v -
ernance is no t an inno cu o u s pro cedu re that it
has no table pro perties that indicate times when
v erbal s timu li s ho u ld and s ho u ld no t be u s ed to
gu ide clinically s ignificant behav io r change.
THE BEHAVIOR ANALYTIC
LITERATURE ON RULES: A BRIEF
REVIEWOF EMPIRICAL
FINDINGS
Two main s trategies hav e been u s ed to as s es s
the relativ e co ntribu tio ns o f v erbal s timu li and
pro grammed co ntingencies to the mo dificatio n
o f behav io r. The firs t appro ach has been to o b-
s erv e the impact o f ru les o n behav io r patterns in
s ingle s chedu les o f reinfo rcement (Bu s kis t, Ben-
nett, & Miller, 1981; Bu s kis t & Miller, 1986;
Kau fman et al., 1966).
Schedules Are in Part What You
Say They Are
Behav io r u nder s chedu le co ntro l is o ften
highly predictable; therefo re, alternatio ns fro m
typical patterns can be traced to the effects o f v er-
bal s timu li. This s trategy was particu larly po pu lar
in the early behav io r analys is wo rk o n ru les . The
fixed interv al (FI ) s chedu le was frequ ently u s ed
becau s e it is a well-es tablis hed finding that adu lt
hu man FI perfo rmance o ften differs s ignificantly
fro m res po nding o n an FI by o ther o rganis ms
(e.g., Leander, Lippman, & Meyer, 1968; Lipp-
man & Meyer, 1967; Weiner, 1964, 1965, 1969).
N o nhu mans tend to s ho w "break-and-ru n" o r
s callo ped patterns when expo s ed to an FI s ched-
u le, while adu lt hu mans tend to s ho w either high,
s teady rates o r v ery lo w rates o f res po nding.
Hu man infants initially s ho w no nhu man-like per-
fo rmances (Lo we, Beas ty, & Bentall, 1983);
then, as they gro w o lder, there is a gradu al tran-
s itio n to adu lt perfo rmances fro m appro ximately
age 2to age 7 (Bentall, Lo we, & Beas ty, 1985).
I n adu lts , res po ns e patterns mo re like tho s e o f
no nhu mans are pro du ced o n an FI when s teps are
taken to redu ce co u nting, s u ch as requ iring co n-
cu rrent mental math o r reading alo u d (e.g., Laties
& Weis s , 1963; Lo we, Harzem, & Hu ghes , 1978)
o r u s ing a res po ns e-pro du ced clo ck (Lo we,
Harzem, & Bags haw, 1978; Lo we, Harzem, &
Hu ghes , 1978).
The bas ic co nclu s io n deriv ed fro m this line o f
res earch is that hu mans tend to generate s elf-
ru les regarding s chedu les o f reinfo rcement, and
thes e ru les , u ltimately, hav e a ro le in behav io r.
Fo r example, adu lt hu mans tend to s ho w high,
s teady rates o n an FI when they fo rmu late a ru le
that s pecifies rate as the relev ant v ariable ("Yo u
ju s t need to keep res po nding and ev entu ally it
will wo rk"); and they s ho w v ery lo w rates o f re-
s po nding with o ne o r two res po ns es at the end o f
the interv al when time is fo rmu lated as the rele-
v ant v ariable ("This wo rks ev ery 10s eco nds ").
Speaking s imply, res po nding to s chedu les o f re-
info rcement can be in part ru le-go v erned.
Rule-Induced "Insensitivity"
I n the s eco nd appro ach, tale-go v emed behav -
io r is expo s ed to changes in pro grammed co ntin-
gencies o f reinfo rcement, s u ch as occur in
mu ltiple s chedu les (Baro n, Kau fman, & Stau ber,
1969; Hayes , Bro wns tein, Zettle, R o s enfarb, &
Ko rn, 1986b), o r u nanno u nced perio d o f extinc-
tio n (Hayes , Bro wns tein, Haas , & Greenway,
rtu Lt-u kiv tt(N tU
1986a; Shimo ff, Catania, & Matthews , 1981). I n
this cas e, the relativ e s ens itiv ity to changes in
pro grammed co ntingencies is what is at is s u e.
I t tu rns o u t that when behav io r is co ntro lled by
v erbal ru les , it tends to be relativ ely ins ens itiv e to
changes in co ntingencies that are no t co ntacted
by the ru le its elf, in co mparis o n with behav io r
that is directly s haped o r es tablis hed by minimal
ins tru ctio ns (Hayes et al., 1986; Matthews , Shi-
mo ff, Catania, & Sagv o lden, 1977; Shimo ff et
al., 1981; s ee Catania, Shimo ff, & Matthews ,
1989, and Hayes , Zettle, & R o s enfarb, 1989 fo r
recent rev iews ). I ns tru cted s u bjects (e.g., s u b-
jects who were to ld ho w to res po nd to maximize
reinfo rcement) s ho w les s behav io r change than
u nins tru cted s u bjects in res po ns e to s ev eral dif-
ferent types o f s chedu le changes : (a) changes
that res u lt in no po tential increas e in co ns e-
qu ence deliv ery (Shimo ff et al., W81), (b)
changes that res u lt in a great po tential increas e in
co ns equ ences (Shimo ff et al., 1981), (c) changes
that allo w fo r a s u bs tantial decreas e in res po nd-
ing with no change in the rate o f co ns equ ence de-
liv ery (Galizio , 1979), and (d) changes that
to tally remo v e all pro grarnmed co ns equ ences
(Hayes et al., 1986; Matthews et al., 1977).
This s o -called insensitivity effect has excited
clinical behav io r analys ts in part becau s e many
fo rms o f clinically s ignificant behav io r s eem to
exemplify the s ame o v erall pattem: the pers is -
tence o f particu lar patterns o f res po nding pers is t
des pite heir directly experienced o r po tential
negativ e co ns equ ences . Others hav e argu ed that
thes e findings hav e implicatio ns fo r treatment as
well, s ince many po pu lar fo rms o f clinical in-
terv entio n rely heav ily o n ru les and thu s may
inadv eriatly be es tablis hing therapeu tically u n-
des irable fo rms o f ins ens itiv ity (e.g., A zrin &
Hayes , 1984).
Altering the Range of Behavior
R u le-go v erned behav io r has o ther attribu tes as
well. R u les can readily alter the range and to po g-
raphy o f behav io r that is av ailable to co ntact nat-
u ral co ns equ ences . This pro perty means that
s o me ru les can increase co ntact with natu ral co n-
tingencies , while o ther ru les decrease s u ch co n-
tact. This was firs t s ho wn by Hayes et al. (1986).
Bu tto n-pres s es mo v ed a light thro u gh a matrix
acco rding to a mu ltiple fixed-ratio (FR = 18)/
differential-reinfo rcement-o f-lo w-rate (DR L 6-
s eco nds ) s chedu le, with co mpo nents alternating
ev ery 2minu tes . Po ints wo rth chances o n mo ney
prizes were awarded fo r s u cces s fu lly mo v ing the
light thro u gh the matrix. Su bjects were to ld to
"Go fas t" when o ne light was o n and to "Go
s lo w" when a different light was o n. The pres en-
tatio n o f ins tru ctio n lights was v aried within three
co nditio ns . I n o ne co nditio n o nly the Go Fas t
light was o n, in a s eco nd o nly the Go Slo w light
was o n, and in a third the lights altemated each
minu te (twice as fas t as the alternating o f s ched-
u les ). This manipu latio n ens u red that s o me s u b-
jects had a fu ll range o f behav io r av ailable to
co ntact thes e two rate-relev ant co ntingencies ,
while the o thers had a narro w range o f behav io r
av ailable. I n all cas es the ins tru ctio n light within
each co nditio n was o nly accu rate half the time,
bu t o u t o f tho s e s u bjects with ins tru ctio ns that
pro du ced a narro w range o f behav io r, o nly o ne o f
the two s chedu les was likely to lead to po ints .
A fter s o me time being expo s ed to thes e co ndi-
tio ns , half the s u bjects had all ins tru ctio n lights
tu rned o ff. I n general, s u bjects fo llo wed the ru les
whenev er the ins tru ctio n lights were o n. This
meant, fo r example, that s u bjects s ho wn o nly the
Go Slo w light receiv ed po ints o n the DR L 6, bu t
no t the FR 18. The o ppo s ite was tru e fo r the Go
Fas t s u bjects . Bu t when the ins tru ctio n lights
were tu med o ff, s u bjects giv en narro w ranges o f
behav io r co ntinu ed to s ho w co ntro l o nly by o ne
s chedu le, while s u bjects who were pres ented with
the alternating Go Fas tGo Slo w ins tru ctio n
lights immediately s ho wed s chedu le-appro priate
behav io r in bo th co mpo nents . Su bjects in the lat-
ter co nditio n dis played a wide range o f behav io r
that had co ntacted the co ntingencies when the
ins tru ctio ns were remo v ed, they "knew what to
do ."
Sev eral o ther res earchers hav e s ho wn s imilar
findings (Jo yce & Chas e, 1990). The relev ance
o f added co ntingencies fo r ru le-fo llo wing in de-
termining the effects o f explicitly pro grammed
co ns equ ences mo dified co ns iderably the mean-
ing o f ru le-indu ced ins ens itiv ity. I t is no t literally
that ru les are ins ens itiv e to co ntingencies ; rather,
ru les alter ho w pro grammed co ntingencies are
co ntacted. They als o add impo rtant new co ntin-
gencies , a fact s een in the next s ectio n.
Increased Social Control
R u les greatly amplify s o cial regu lato ry pro c-
es s es in two ways . Firs t, ru les can be s to red in the
fo rro o f permanent pro du cts av ailable to influ -
ence the behav io r o f o thers remo v ed by time o r
s pace fro m the s peaker. Fo r example, the reader
o f this bo o k is res po nding to ink o n paper giv en
a lo ng s o cial and edu catio nal his to ry that es tab-
lis hes s u ch co ntro l. Bu t the writer is no t s itting
next to the reader. The writer may no w be ins ane,
dead, o r in ano ther pro fes s io n. This pro perty o f
hu man v erbal behav io r eno rmo u s ly amplifies the
impo rtance, perv as iv enes s , and indirect relev ance
o f the s o cial co mmu nity in hu man affairs . Sec-
o nd, the s o cial co mmu nity can o ften dis criminate
whether o r no t a ru le has been fo llo wed and can
deliv er s o cially mediated co ns equ ences acco rd-
ingly. I n o ther wo rds , ru le-fo llo wing can be en-
tirely co nv entio nal. Mu ch mo re will be s aid abo u t
this qu ality later.
Altered Motivation
Verbal s timu li do no t ju s t direct the fo rm o f
behav io r. They can als o lead to the initial es tab-
lis hment o f co ns equ ences (Hayes et al., 1987;
Hayes , Ko hlenberg, & Hayes , 1991; Hayes ,
Bro wns tein, Dev any, Ko hlenberg, & Shelby,
1987). Su ppo s e, fo r example, yo u are to ld fo r
the firs t time that bon in French is the s ame as
bueno in Spanis h, and that bueno in Spanis h is
the s ame as bra in Swedis h, and that bra in
Swedis h is the s ame as good in Englis h. I f good
already fu nctio ns as a reinfo rcer, this ru le alo ne
may make it po s s ible to teach new s kills by co n-
s equ ating effectiv e perfo rmances with
bon,
bueno, o r bra. I n additio n, ru les can change the
effectiv enes s o f exis ting co ns equ ences (Hayes
& Ju , in pres s ). I n the pres ence o f the wo rds
Finger-lickin' good, fo r example, the effectiv e-
nes s o f fried chicken as a reinfo rcer fo r res po nd-
ing may be greater than in the abs ence o f s u ch
wo rds .
To gether, thes e pro ces s es allo w the v erbal
creatio n o f highly abs tract co ns equ ences . I ni-
tially, generalized s o cial reinfo rcers (s u ch as
good) may be es tablis hed thro u gh fairly direct
pro ces s es (e.g., pairing with o ther reinfo rcers ),
bu t good is in tu m mo dified by many kinds o f
v erbal relatio ns . There are kinds o f go o ds , co n-
ditio ns fo r particu lar go o ds , attribu tes that are
s aid to be go o d, and s o o n. Highly abs tract v er-
bal co ncepts s u ch as ju s tice, egalitarianis m, o r
s incerity can be u s ed as co ns equ ences ("yo u are
s o ju s t") as a res u lt. We will attempt a theo reti-
cal acco u nt o f s u ch effects later.
lndirect Alteration of Functions of
the Nonverbal Environment
Pro bably o ne o f the mo s t impo rtant effects o f
ru les is that they can alter the fu nctio ns o f the
no nv erbal env iro nment. I f a no nv erbal s timu lu s
enters into a v erbal relatio n, fu nctio ns attribu ted
to the v erbal term will, u nder s o me co ntextu al
co nditio n, trans fer to the no nv erbal s timu lu s
(Hayes & Hayes , 1992). Let u s s ay, fo r example,
that a child is tau ght that the printed wo rd
DOG
go es with the s o u nd "do g," and is als o tau ght
that the printed wo rd DOG go es with actu al
do gs . The two directly trained relatio ns are:
DOG to actu al do gs and DOG to the s o u nd,
"do g." Let u s , then, s ay that o n a s eparate o cca-
s io n, the child plays with an actu al do g and is bit-
ten. Thro u gh clas s ical co nditio ning, actu al do gs
may thu s co me to elicit pain s ens atio ns , feelings
o f anxiety, and feelings o f fear. On s o me fu tu re
o ccas io n, u po n hearing the s o u nd "do g," the
child may s u ddenly s tart to cry and engage in
av o idance res po ns es ev en tho u gh no do g is actu -
ally pres ent and the child has had no direct his -
to ry o f reinfo rcement fo r any o f thes e activ ities
in res po ns e to the s o u nd "do g." I t is thro u gh this
378
LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY
RULE- GOVERNED BEHAVIOR

379
pro ces s that v erbal ru les giv e the no nv erbal
wo rld new meaning (cf. Schlinger & Blakely,
1994, 1987).
Summary
R u les are po werfu l ev ents . They permit a re-
markably indirect, co nv entio nal, and s pecific
fo rm o f s timu lu s co ntro l. R u les allo w the es tab-
lis hment o f remo te s o cial co ntingencies and a
rapid mo dificatio n o f the range o f behav io rs
av ailable to make co ntact with the env iro nment.
Bu t ru les are no t all po s itiv e. They can pro du ce
rigidity. They can make o ther impo rtant s o u rces
o f co ntro l o v er behav io r ineffectiv e.
Du e to the decreas ed ability to manipu late the
env iro nment directly, many o u tpatient therapeu -
tic interv entio ns are bas ed heav ily o n v erbal ex-
changes as a fo rm o f interv entio n. Mu ch o f
clinical ps ycho lo gy wo rks by the es tablis hment
o f v erbal ru les . Unders tanding Pu le-go v ernance
is thu s a matter o f critical impo rtance to empiri-
cal clinical ps ycho lo gy and its dev elo pment.
TYPES OF RULE-FOLLOWING
R u les are v erbal antecedents . We take "v er-
bal" s timu li to be s timu li that hav e their effects
becau s e they participate in equ iv alence clas s es
(s ee Tierney & Bracken, this v o lu me) o r o ther
deriv ed s timu lu s relatio ns (Hayes & Hayes ,
1989). A fu ll acco u nt o f this definitio n is beyo nd
the s co pe o f the pres ent chapter (s ee Hayes &
Hayes , 1992); ho wev er, fo r all practical pu rpo s es ,
a detailed acco u nt o f this kind is no t neces s ary. A
co mmo n-s ens e definitio n will wo rk almo s t as
well.
Unders tanding a ru le and actu ally fo llo wing
the ru le are two different behav io rs , ho wev er
(Hayes , 1991; Hayes , Zettle, & R o s enfarb,
1989), and fo r clinical pu rpo s es it is impo rtant to
s ee why ru les are fo llo wed in the firs t place.
Mo s t ru les s eem to ev o ke ru le-fo llo wing be-
cau s e they engage direct co ntingencies . Pliance,
o r ru le-go v emed behav io r u nder the co ntro l o f a
his to ry o f s o cially mediated co ns equ ences fo r a
co rres po ndence between the ru le and relev ant
behav io r, is o ne type. A no ther type o f ru le-fo l-
lo wing is tracking, o r ru le-go v erned behav io r
u nder the co ntro l o f a his to ry o f a co rres po n-
dence between the ru le and the co ntingencies en-
gaged entirely by the exact fo rm o f the behav io r
in that particu lar s itu atio nwhat we call "nat-
u ral" co ntingencies (Hayes & Wils o n, 1993;
Hayes , Zettle, & R o s enfarb, 1989). When be-
hav io r is u nder the co ntro l o f natu ral co ntingen-
cies (i.e., co ntingency-s haped), the co ns equ ences
o f an actio n are determined co mpletely by the
to po graphy o f the actio n in a giv en s itu atio n
(Hayes , Zettle, & R o s enfarb, 1989). I n this cas e,
the co ns equ ences that are co ntacted hav e no thing
to do with whether a pers o n acted "malicio u s ly,"
"intentio nally," o r "u nkno wingly." Fo r example,
if a Shao -Lin pries t brands hims elf with a ho t
iro n, the bu rra he receiv es is s till a bu rn whether
he accidentally to u ched the branding iro n o r did
s o v o lu ntarily. Co nv ers ely, branding hims elf "by
no t watching where he was go ing" v ers u s "to
demo ns trate the intens ity o f his faith" will hav e
different s o cially mediated co ns equ ences . With
behav io r that is co ntingency-s haped, the likeli-
ho o d o f to u ching a ho t iro n s ho u ld, ev entu ally,
decreas e. The red glo w s ho u ld fu nctio n as a dis -
criminativ e s timu lu s (Skinner, 1938) in the pres -
ence o f which to u ching is pu nis hed o r av o idance
is reinfo rced. Ho wev er, if the branding iro n were
being u s ed as part o f an elabo rate ritu al, av o id-
ance wo u ld likely pro du ce av ers iv e s o cially me-
diated co ns equ ences , s u ch as cas tigatio n by
fello w believ ers .
To illu s trate the dis tinctio n fu rther, s u ppo s e
an adu lt tells a child, "Dres s warmly, dear, it's
co ld o u ts ide." I f the child then pu ts o n a jacket
becau s e o f a his to ry o f po s s ible prais e o r pu n-
is hment fro m the adu lt fo r fo llo wing the ru le,
then the behav io r is pliance. Co nv ers ely, if the
child pu ts o n a jacket to get warm, u nder the co n-
tro l o f a his to ry o f s u ch tu les accu rately des crib-
ing natu ral co ntingencies , then the behav io r is
tracking.
The dis tinctio n between plies and tracks is
fu nctio nal, no t fo rmal. A ru le can be in o bv ipu s
track fo rm and s till ev o ke pliance. Similarly, be-
hav io r that is rebellio u s o r res is tant may s till be
pliance, s o lo ng as the fu nctio n o f the ru le is de-
pendent u po n a his to ry o f s o cially mediated co n-
s equ ences fo r a co rres po ndence between the ru le
and relev ant behav io r. A teenage girl accu rately
to ld, "Yo u r friends will get yo u in tro u ble," may
res po nd by angrily trying to keep her parents
fro m co ntro lling what s he do es . I n this ins tance,
the ru le is pro bably fu nctio ning as a ply as if
co ns equ ences fo r fo llo wing o r no t fo llo wing the
ru le are arbitrary and s o cial rather than as a
des criptio n o f natu ral co ns equ ences . The res is -
tance s ho wn by the teenager (i.e., counterpli-
ance) has pro bably been co ns equ ated, in part, by
the s o cial withdrawal o f the parent o r o ther ru le-
giv er.
Augmentingis a different kind o f ru le, in which
the antecedent v erbal s timu li do no t indcate o r
change co ntingencies rather, they change the
effectiv enes s o r impo rtance o f co ns equ ences .
Say, fo r example, that a pers o n who o ften drinks
Gato rade hears a radio adv ertis ement anno u nc-
ing: "Gato rade! The thirs t qu encher!" This s tate-
ment is u nlikely to fu nctio n as a ply s ince the
s o cial co mmu nity is no t likely to dis criminate
whether o r no t the ru le had been giv en and, then,
differentially reinfo rce the pu rchas e o f Gato rade
acco rdingly. I t may fu nctio n as a track in that
drinking Gato rade may actu ally decreas e thirs t.
Ho wev er, it do es no t s ignal a co ntingency s ince
the co mmercial may be heard du ring times o f
thirs t as well as s atiatio n. I n o ther wo rds , the
pro bability o f natu ral reinfo rcement is no higher
in the pres ence o f the ru le than in its abs ence. I n-
s tead, what may be inv o lv ed is the v erbal equ iv -
alent o f reinfo rcer s ampling (cf. A llyo n & A zrin,
1968): as we talk abo u t Gato rade we may als o be
able to pictu re it and tas te it (i.e., s o me o f the per-
ceptu al fu nctio ns as s o ciated with the drink may
be pres ent). I n technical terms , the s timu lu s fu nc-
tio ns o f o ne member o f an equ iv alence clas s
trans fer to ano ther member. This trans fer, in tu rn,
may fu nctio n mo tiv atio nally (s ee Hayes & Ju , in
pres s ).
Two different types o f au gmentals hav e been
dis tingu is hed in the behav io r analytic literatu re.
When a ru le es tablis hes co ns equ ential fu netio ns
fo r the firs t time thro u gh a v erbal ru le, it is a for-
mative augmental. This pro ces s has been s ho wn
empirically in s ev eral s tu dies (e.g., Hayes et al.,
1987; Hayes , Ko hlenberg, & Hayes , 1991).
The te= motivative augmentals refers to an-
tecedent v erbal s timu li that tempo rarily alter the
degree to which prev io u s ly es tablis hed co ns e-
qu ences fu nctio n as reinfo rcers o r pu nis hers . The
Gato rade example is o f this type.
Many o f the co ns equ ences o f impo rtance to
hu mans are remo te, impro bable, o r abs tract. The
v erbal pro ces s es inv o lv ed in au gmenting may
help explain ho w s u ch co ns equ ences co me to be
impo rtant. Fo rmativ e au gmentals may lead to the
es tablis hment o f s u ch abs tract v erbal co ns e-
qu ences as liberty, ju s tice, and equ ality, while
mo tiv ativ e au gmentals may s u ppo rt the impo r-
tance o f achiev ement, res pect, u nders tanding,
and o ther co ns equ ences s o impo rtant to a civ i-
lizo :1 s o ciety.
EVIDENCE FOR THE PLIANCE-
TRACKING DISTINCTION
The res earch o n au gmenting is ju s t beginning,
bu t there is a s u bs tantial literatu re relev ant to the
pliance-tracking dis tinctio n. This literatu re is im-
po rtant fo r o u r pu rpo s es becau s e it links the lit-
eratu re o n ru le-go v ernance directly to applied
interv entio ns .
Tracking can be s o cial s ince s o me natu ral co n-
tingencies are s o cial bu t pliance is neces s arily
s o cial and in an u nu s u al fas hio n. Only a s o cial
co mmu nity can differentially detect and rein-
fo rce co ntro l by a ru le as dis tinct fro m deliv ering
co ns equ ences bas ed o n the form o f the behav io r
s een. Becau s e o f this inherent qu ality o f s o cially
mo nito red co rres po ndence, pliance requ ires that
the s o cial co mmu nity hav e acces s bo th to the
ru le and to the relev ant behav io r co ntro lled by
the ru le. I f either is certainly remo v edwhere
by "certainly" we mean as v iewed by the ru le-
fo llo wer then pliance s ho u ld be u nlikely.
This dis tinctio n s u gges ts an effectiv e way o f
as s es s ing whether an ins tance o f ru le-fo llo wing
is pliance o r tracking: co mpare ru le-fo llo wing in
a pu blic co ntext, in which bo th the ru le and the
relev ant behav io r are acces s ible to po tential me-
380

LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY

RULE- GOVERNED BEHAVIOR 381
diato rs , with that s een in a priv ate co ntext in
which either the ru le and/o r the relev ant behav -
io r are apparently no t at all acces s ible. Su ch pu b-
lic/priv ate co mparis o ns hav e been made in the
s o cial ps ycho lo gy literatu re o n co mpliance, o be-
dience, and related s o cial influ ence pro ces s es
(s ee Hayes et al., 1989 fo r a rev iew), and in the
hu man o perant literatu re as well (e.g., Barrett,
Deitz, Gaydo s , & Qu inn, 1987). Bu t the rele-
v ante o f this to applied wo rk is mo s t direct in a
res earch literatu re o n the pro ces s es thro u gh with
s u ch clinical interv entio ns as co ping s elf-s tate-
ments o r s elf-co ntro l pro cedu res o perate.
A lmo s t all ps ycho therapies are co ndu cted in a
s o cial co ntext. Clients are pres ented with v erbal
material by the therapis t, and co rres po nding
client behav io r is examined. Thes e co nditio ns
s atis fy the co re requ irements fo r a pliance co n-
tingency. To what degree can clinical changes
s een in ps ycho therapeu tic interv entio ns be s aid
to be du e to pliance? This qu es tio n has been ex-
amined with s o me widely u s ed interv entio ns .
I n an initial s tu dy in this area, Zettle and
Hayes (1983) co mpared the efficacy o f co ping
s elf-s tatements in the redu ctio n o f s peech anxi-
ety. Speech-anxio u s co llege s tu dents were ran-
do mly as s igned to a co ntro l gro u p, o r to o ne o f
two kinds o f co ping s elf-s tatement interv entio ns .
Bo th o f the co ping co nditio ns receiv ed a s elf-
s tatement like tho s e co mmo nly u s ed clinically.
Su bjects s elected a s tatement fro m a co ntainer
that they were to ld held different types o f s tate-
ments . They were as ked to repeat this s tatement
to thems elv es bo th befo re and du ring s peeches .
I n actu ality, all the s tatements in the co ntainer
were identical. The difference between the two
co ping co nditio ns was that in the priv ate v ers io n,
s u bjects s imply retu rned the s tatement to the
co ntainer after reading it, while in the pu blic
co nditio n, the s tatement was s hared with the
therapis t.
R es u lts o btained o n bo th s elf-repo rt and be-
hav io ral meas u res o f anxiety s ho wed that the
pu blic co ping s elf-s tatement gro u p impro v ed
perfo rmance o v er the co ntro l co nditio n. The
priv ate gro u p did no t. Thu s , co ping "s elf-s tate-
ments " may wo rk thro u gh s o cial means . I n this
s tu dy at leas t, co ping s elf-s tatements es tablis hed
pliance, no t tracking. Speaking lo o s ely, clients
impro v ed becau s e they knew that the therapis t
knew they were s u ppo s ed to fo llo w a particu lar
ru le.
Co ping s tatements were examined in a s eco nd
s tu dy fo cu s ing o n pain to lerance u s ing a co ld-
pres s o r tas k (Hayes & Wo lf, 1984). A v ery s im-
ilar des ign to the earlier s tu dy was u s ed. Once
again, o nly s u bjects in the pu blic co ping s elf-
s tatement gro u p impro v ed their to lerance o f a
co ld-pres s o r tas k lo nger than tho s e in an atten-
tio n-placebo co nditio n. Priv ate s elf-s tatements
had no effect.
R o s enfarb and Hayes (1984) examined this
is s u e u s ing children and expanded the finding to
dis inhibito ry mo deling. Children who were v ery
fearfu l o f the dark were rando mly as s igned to
o ne o f two treatment co nditio ns (co ping s elf-
s tatement o r dis inhibito ry mo deling) o r to o ne
o f two co ntro l gro u ps (o ne co ntro lling fo r time
and the o ther co ntro lling fo r the co ntent o f the
co ping s tatements by u s ing neu tral s tatements
fro m children's bo o ks ). Children in the co ping
s elf-s tatement gro u p lis tened to a tape (they were
to ld it was a "radio s ho w") in which they were
ins tru cted in s elf-s tatements that prev io u s re-
s earch had s ho wn to be qu ite effectiv e in de-
creas ing fear o f the dark in children (Kanfer,
Karo ly, & N ewman, 1975). The children picked
their o wn "radio s ho w" by pu nching o ne o f
many bu tto ns o n a panel. I n actu ality, regardles s
o f the bu tto n pu s hed, the s ame tape was played.
The pu blic/priv ate manipu latio n was as fo llo ws :
half o f the s u bjects (in the "pu blic" co nditio n)
s ho wed the experimenter the bu tto n they wo u ld
pu s h, the o ther half did no t (in the "priv ate co n-
ditio n"). The experimenter then left the ro o m,
the child pu s hed the bu tto n, and the "radio s ho w"
was played. The dis inhibito ry mo deling co n-
ditio ns had the identical pu blic and priv ate
manipu latio ns , except that s u bjects watched a
v ideo tape o f a s ame-gender co ping mo del enter-
ing a dark ro o m while s aying alo u d the s ame
s elf-s tatements u s ed in the s elf-s tatement gro u ps .
Co ping s elf-s tatements and mo deling bo th in-
creas ed dark to lerance equ ally well in thes e fear-
fu l children co mpared with the co ntro l co ndi-
tio ns , bu t this was tru e only when the treatments
were pu blic. I f the children tho u ght that no o ne
no t ev en the experimenterco u ld kno w what
they lis tened to o r watched, the treatment effects
dis appeared entirely. This was tru e ev en tho u gh
the priv ate gro u ps remembered and repo ned
u s ing the interv entio ns ju s t as well as the pu blic
gro u ps . Thes e findings s ho w fairly clearly that
thes e interv entio ns wo rk by s etting a kind o f s o -
cial s tandard agains t which perfo rmance can be
s u bs equ ently ev alu ated. Pu t ano ther way: thes e
interv entio ns wo rk by pliance, no t tracking; they
wo rk by s o cial pers u as io n, no t by info rmatio n.
The s ame type o f res u lts hav e been s ho wn with
s elf-co ntro l pro cedu res and with go al-s etting
(Hayes , R o s enfarb, Wu lfert, Mu nt, Ko rn, &
Zettle, 1985).
Thes e res u lts are impo rtant becau s e practitio n-
ers o f many fo rms o f co gnitiv e and behav io ral
therapy talk abo u t their pro cedu res in largely
no ns o cial terms . Co gnitiv e therapis ts talk mo re
abo u t what the client thinks than abo u t what the
therapis t apparently co u ld think abo u t what the
client thinks . A s a res u lt, little carefu l tho u ght has
been giv en to ways in which pliance might be in-
creas ed in co gnitiv e therapy.
IMPLICATIONS OF RULE-
GOVERNANCE FOR APPLIED
PROBLEMS
The literatu re o n ru le-go v emance s u gges ts
many ways that applied pro blems can emerge
and be treated. I t s u gges ts new appro aches , pro -
v ides theo retical co ncepts fo r the interpretatio n
o f exis ting appro aches , and pres ents new areas o f
cau tio n.
Clinical Problems in Rule-
Governed Terms
I n s o me cas es , increas ing ru le co ntro l o f cer-
tain kinds may be helpfu l, s u ch as when ru le gen-
eratio n and fo llo wing are to o weak. Behav io r
o ccu rring u nder s u ch co nditio ns may be label d
as impu ls iv e, lazy, antis o cial, o r immo ral. les
intro du ce new fo rms o f s o cial regu latio n that
allo w greater res is tance to extinctio n o r to s ho rt-
term immediate co ns equ ences . I ndiv idu als can
fu nctio n as bo th s peaker and lis tener, and a per-
s o n can lis ten to his o r her o wn talk. Thu s , s elf-
ru les can participate in the co ntro l o f o ther
behav io r. The difference between fo llo wing s elf-
ru les and ru les made by o thers , ho wev er, is that
when a pers o n is lis tening to his o r her o wn
s peech, the s o cial co ntingencies inv o lv ed in pli-
ance do no t o perate in the s ame manner as when
the pers o n is lis tening to s o meo ne els e. The s o -
cially mediated co ns equ ences fo r fo llo wing o r
no t fo llo wing a s elf-ru le are indirect (i.e., bas ed
o n deriv ed s timu lu s relatio ns ) s ince the s elf-
ru le may o ccu r at a v ery s u btle lev eland the
"natu ral" co ns equ ences may be tempo rally no n-
co ntigu o u s (i.e., delayed).
Dis o rders in ru le generatio n o r fo llo wing may
o ccu r in s ev eral ways : indiv idu als may fail to
fo rmu late ru les in s itu atio ns requ iring them to
do s o ; they may fo rmu late inaccu rate, u nrealis tic
o r ineffectiv e ru les ; they may fail to fo llo w ru les
that lead to beneficial o u tco mes ; o r they may fo l-
lo w ru les that lead to harmfu l co ns equ ences
(Hayes , Ko hlenberg, & Melanco n, 1989). Mo s t
o f the s trategies inco rpo rated into co gnitiv e ther-
apy can be interpreted as attempts to teach indi-
v idu als pro per ru le-fo rmu latio n (Schilling &
Po ppen, 1983; Zettle & Hayes , 1983): therapis ts
enco u rage their clients to bring v erbal behav io r
u nder the co ntro l o f direct co ntact with experi-
enced ev ents (i.e., natu ral co ntingencies ) rather
than u nder s tates o f reinfo rceability (e.g., wo rries
and fears ) o r au dience co ntro l (e.g., pleas ing o th-
ers ). The fo rmu latio n o f inaccu rate o r u nrealis tic
ru les can als o o ccu r at the lev el o f the v erbal
co mmu nity at large. Fo r example, a telev is io n
co mmercial pro mo ting the ru le "Yo u can nev er
be to o rich o r to o thin" is enco u raging ru le-fo l-
lo wing that co u ld av ers ely affect an indiv idu al's
health and well-being. I n fact, many adv ertis ers
cater to the effects o f immediate co ntingency
co ntro l (e.g., feeling elated, aro u s ed, relaxed,
etc.). Bu t fo r thes e co mmercials to hav e an im-
pact, au diences mu s t be able to bo th u nders tand
and fo llo w the ru les to which they are expo s ed.
382 LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY
RULE- GOVERNED BEHAVIOR

383
w.
R u le-fo llo wing, in this s ens e, inv o lv es bo th the
u nders tanding o f the ru le and the v erbal activ a-
tio n o f behav io ral fu nctio ns in terms o f the ru le
(Hayes et al., 1989). Mo s t ado les cents already
kno w who Jo e Camel is and what pro du ct he
pro mo tes . To enco u rage the pu rchas e o f Camel
cigarettes , adv ertis ers need o nly es tablis h the
pro du ct name as an effectiv e reinfo rcer; thu s ,
Carnel cigarettes beco me related to cool in mu ch
the s ame manner that bon beco mes related to
good. Once Camel cigarettes are fu nctio ning as
fo rmativ e au gmentals , the immediate s o cial co n-
tingencies and the immediate effects o f the nico -
tine its elf may draw the teenager into a pattern o f
s mo king. R ecent co mmu nity interv entio n pro -
jects (Biglan, 1995) hav e fo cu s ed o n pro mo ting
ru le-fo llo wing that might co mpete effectiv ely
with the des tru ctiv e effects o f dies e kinds o f im-
mediate co ntingency co ntro l. The ru le "Do n't
s mo ke s mo king is fo r lo s ers " is meant to es -
tablis h an ins ens itiv ity to thes e direct co ntingen-
cies . Ho wev er, befo re s u ch ru les will hav e an
impact, a s u fficiently s tro ng pattern o f ru le-fo l-
lo wing mu s t firs t be es tablis hed. Synano n, fo r
example, is an inv as iv e dru g-treatment pro gram
that emphas izes intens e s o cial co ntro l fo r the
pu rpo s es o f es tablis hing pliance with regard to
ho u s e ru les . Stro ng and co ns is tent s o cial co ntin-
gencies are pro v ided fo r ru le-fo llo wing in the
ho pes that a greater degree o f ins ens itiv ity to de-
s tru ctiv e immediate co ntingencies will res u lt.
A t the o ther end o f the co ntinu u m, when ru le-
generatio n and ru le-fo llo wing are to o s tro ng, be-
hav io r may be des cribed as o bs es s iv e, anxio u s ,
o v erco mpliant, ins ens itiv e o r rigid. I n thes e
cas es , targeting pro per ru le fo rmu latio n o r in-
creas ing ins ens itiv ity to direct co ntingencies
may actu ally co mpo u nd the pro blem. I ns tead,
av o iding o r decreas ing ru le co ntro l o f certain
kinds may be mo re helpfu l. I ndiv idu als diag-
no s ed with o bs es s iv e-co mpu ls iv e behav io r dis -
o rder, fo r example, may no t benefit fro m
directiv e interv entio ns , s u ch as ratio nal emo tiv e
therapy (Ellis , 1962). The replacement o f the
client' s ru les with the therapis t's ru les do es no t
attenu ate exces s iv e ru le-fo llo wing. Co nv ers ely,
the mo re traditio nally no nempirical appro aches ,
s u ch as Ges talt (Perls , 1969) and Mo rita (Mo rita,
1929/1984), may be mo re co ns is tent with the
bas ic behav io ral literatu re o n ru le-go v ernance.
Thes e his to rically "no n-behav io ral" therapies
emphas ize the experiential as pects o f learning
by minimizing direct therapis t ins tru ctio n, by in-
creas ing the u s e o f no nv o cal experiential exer-
cis es , by maldng u s e o f metapho r, and by
applying parado xical techniqu es with the pu r-
po s e o f climinis hing the ins ens itiv ity-pro du cing
effects o f v erbal co ntro l (Hayes , Ko hlenberg, &
Melanco n, 1989).
Becau s e ru le-go v emance is s o central to
hu man actio n, an almo s t u nlimited nu mber o f
applied implicatio ns co u ld be dev elo ped. I n
many ways , the field o f applied ps ycho lo gy is
abo u t the is s u e o f ru le-go v emance. We will limit
o u r examples to a s mall s et.
Developing Rule Control: The
Example of Moral Behavior
The dis tinctio n between pliance, tracking, and
au gmenting pro v ides a wo rking mo del o f mo ral
dev elo pment (Hayes , Giffo rd, & Hayes , in
pres s ). Six bas ic kinds o f mo ral behav io r emerge
fro m the pliance/tracking/au gmenting dis tinc-
tio n. Tho s e fro m the po int o f v iew o f the lis tener
are mo ral pliance, mo ral tracking, and mo ral
au gmenting. Tho s e fro m the po int o f the v iew o f
the s peaker are s o cial co ncem fo r pliance, s o cial
co ncern fo r tracking, and s o cial co ncern fo r au g-
menting. Thes e can be arranged into a u s u al s e-
qu ence bas ed o n their co mplexity.
Moral pliance inv o lv es fo llo wing ru les abo u t
what is go o d o r pro per becau s e the v erbal co m-
mu nity differentially co ns equ ates ru le-fo llo wing
per s e. Mo ral pliance inv o lv es the implicit (and
o ften explicit) ru le "Do it becau s e I s aid s o ." I t
makes s ens e that pliance is mo s t bas ic becau s e it
adds new reinfo rcers and pu nis hers to tho s e co n-
tingencies already pres ent, and becau s e it is in
the direct interes t o f s peakers . A parent s ho u ting
"s to p it!" will hav e that behav io r negativ ely re-
info rced by terminatio n o f crying, and the chil-
dren will o ften be pres ented with direct and
immediate reas o ns to s to p.
Moral trackinginv o lv es fo llo wing ru les abo u t
what bes t pro du ces exis ting reinfo rcers and pu n-
is hers fo r the indiv idu al. A n example o f a mo ral
track might be "Peo ple wo n't like yo u if yo u lie."
This type o f ru le-fo llo wing is mo re co mplex than
pliance. The co ns equ ences retened to in the ru le
are o ften pro babilis tic o r remo te, and the track
do es no t add new, immediate co ns equ ences to
the s itu atio n.
Moral augmentinginv o lv es the acqu is itio n o f
and mo tiv atio n to o btain increas ingly abs tract
reinfo rcers and pu nis hers , bas ed o n s ys tems o f
v erbal relatio ns . Fo rmativ e au gmentals are the
mo re impo rtant kind in the area o f mo rality, be-
cau s e they es tablis h new co ns equ ential fu nctio ns
thro u gh v erbal means . This fo rm o f behav io r is
mo re difficu lt than the o thers becau s e it is s u ch a
v erbal pro ces s .
Social concern for pliance is mo ral behav io r
o riented to ward the es tablis hment o f pliance in
o thers o r in the s o cial gro u p as a who le. I t is in-
v o lv ed with s u ch is s u es as "Ho w can we es tab-
lis h law and o rder?" o r "Ho w I get my children
to mind me?" a co ncern o v er pliance, while
mu ch mo re ev o lv ed and co mplex than pliance
fro m the po int o f v iew o f the lis tener, is s till a
rather bas ic behav io r, s ince pliance can remo v e
v ery direct and av ers iv e ev ents fro m the imme-
diate env iro nment o f the s peaker.
Social concern for trackingis mo ral behav io r
o riented to ward the es tablis hment o f tracking in
o thers o r in the s o cial gro u p as a who le. I t is co n-
cerned with s u ch is s u es as "Ho w can we elim-
nate s elf-des tru ctiv e behav io r in o u r yo u th?" o r
"Ho w can we get peo ple to think in terms o f the
lo ng-term co ns equ ences ?" This is the firs t type
o f mo ral behav io r that is qu ite s u btle and difficu lt
to achiev e, becau s e the reinfo rcers fo r the
s peaker are lo ng term and indirect.
Social concern for augmenting is mo ral be-
hav io r o riented to ward the es tablis hment o f v er-
bal co ns equ ences in o thers o r in the s o cial gro u p
as a who le and increas ing the mo tiv atio n o f o th-
ers to wo rk to ward abs tract co ns equ ences . I t is
co ncerned with s u ch is s u es as "Ho w can we es -
tablis h a s o ciety that s eeks ju s tice?" This is the
mo s t difficu lt kind o f mo rality to es tablis h s ince
s elf-interes t fo r the s peaker is leas t o bv io u s ly in-
v o lv ed.
This appro ach to mo rality helps explain why
parenting practices that giv e ris e to pliance (e.g.,
clear ru les , carefu l mo nito ring, co ns is tent co ns e-
qu atio n o f behav io r) are s o impo rtant to children.
I t als o explains why helping children co me into
co ntact with natu ral co ns equ ences is impo rtant,
and why abs tract ends tau ght in the fo rm o f reli-
gio n o r ethics are cru cial to s o cializatio n.
Avoiding Rule Control: The
Example of Social Shaping
I f o ne o f the s ide effects o f v erbal co ntro l is an
ins ens itiv ity to direct co ntingency co ntro l, then
ru le-bas ed therapies s ho u ld be u s ed primarily
when behav io ral rigidity is des irable (e.g., fo r
pro blems s u ch as s mo king, weight co ntro l, im-
pu ls iv e behav io r, aggres s iv e o u tbu rs ts ). When
s u ch rigidity might be detrimental (e.g., in
"s po ntaneo u s " o r "s o cially s ens itiv e" behav io r),
the res earch o n ru le-go v ernance s u gges ts that in-
s tru ctio n-bas ed interv entio n s trategies may no t
be as effectiv e as experiential appro aches .
So cial-s kills training pro v ides a prime example
o f the ineffectiv enes s o f ru le-bas ed treatment
mo dels . Pro po nents o f this training mo del make
the as s u mptio n that s o cially ineffectiv e peo ple
hav e s pecific deficits in particu lar s kill areas that
can be identified and des cribed in detail s u ffi-
cient that the therapis t will be able to ins tru ct
behav io r change and pro v ide feedback o n the de-
gree to which ro le-played perfo rmances appro x-
imate the ins tru cted ideal (Dev any & N els o n,
1986). This mo del has been pu rs u ed fo r decades
by do zens , ev en hu ndreds , o f res earchers , and yet
there is s till no u s efu l lis t o f the s pecific co mpo -
nente o f "s o cial s kill" (Ciminero , Calho u n, &
A dams , 1977; Co nger & Co nger, 1982; R o s en-
farb, Hayes , & Linehan, 1989).
So cial behav io r inv o lv es many tho u s ands o f
s pecific and s u btle res po ns e fo rms (facial ex-
pres s io ns , ges tu res , v o ice into natio n, mo v e-
ments , and s o o n) that are v ery mu ch a fu nctio n
o f s u ch facto rs as the au dience, s etting, timing,
and s o o n. So cial interactio ns inv o lv e acts that
384
LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY
RULE- GOVERNED BEHAVIOR 385
may be highly v ariable in fo rm and their effects
depend entirely u po n the co ntext in which they
o ccu r. So lu tio ns to s u ch qu es tio ns as , "Why
can't I get wo men to fall in lo v e with me?" can-
no t be readily attained with an ins tru ctio n bo o k
o f behav io ral to po graphies . Sev eral minu tes at a
calcu lato r can co nfirm that ev en a few do zen re-
s po ns e fo rms and co ntextu al facto rs can lead to
billio ns o f s pecific co mbinatio ns and s equ ences .
I t s eems u nlikely that s u ch a co llectio n co u ld be
learned by ru les .
Bu t ev en if this pro blem co u ld be s o lv ed, the
bas ic literatu re o n ru le-go v ernance s u gges ts that
ru le-go v etned s o cial behav io r might be les s s en-
s itiv ely mo dified by natu ral co ntingencies than
s o cial behav io r that is co ntingency-s haped. R u le-
go v erned s o cial behav io r co u ld well s eem rigid
o r artificial. There is no reas o n why s o cial be-
hav io r co u ld no t be s haped directly, ho wev er,
by pres enting and amplifying its co ns equ ences
(Hayes , Ko hlenberg, & Melancn, 1989).
The firs t s tu dy o f this kind (A zrin & Hayes ,
1984) fo cu s ed o n cu es o f s o cial interes t dis -
played in hetero s o cial interactio ns . The ratio nale
fo r u s ing lev el o f interes t was that cu es o f this
s o n may be o ne o f the majo r mo du lating ev ents
in a hetero s o cial interactio n. Male s u bjects were
as ked to v iew a v ideo tape o f a female (no au dio )
co nv ers ing with an o ff-s creen male, and then to
rate, each minu te, ho w interes ted they tho u ght
s he was in the u ns een male. I n the o riginal tap-
ing, the female had als o giv en interes t ratings
each minu te, and by u s ing thes e as a criterio n, the
male s u bjects ' ratings co u ld be as s es s ed fo r ac-
cu racy. Treatment co ns is ted s imply o f giv ing
s u bjects feedback o n the accu racy o f their
gu es s es . Thu s , this s trategy allo wed bo th as s es s -
ment and training o f s ens itiv ity to s o cial interes t
cu es , ev en tho u gh we had no idea what thes e
cu es were (as we wo u ld need to if we were de-
v elo ping a ru le-bas ed interv entio n).
The res u lts s ho wed that with feedback, s u b-
jects impro v ed in their ability to dis criminate s o -
cial interes t, that this ability generalized to
prev io u s ly u nv iewed females and led to im-
pro v ements in actu al s o cial s kills in s u bs equ ent
ro le-play s itu atio ns .
I n ano ther s tu dy (R o s enfarb, Hayes , & Line-
han, 1989), experiential and ins tru ctio nal s o cial-
s kills training were co mpared in the treatment o f
adu lts with s o cial-interactio n difficu lties . I n this
s tu dy, s u bjects repeatedly ro le-played s o cial s it-
u atio ns . The experiential interv entio n co ns is ted
o f the therapis t's s tating his "gu t reactio n" abo u t
the o v erall qu ality o f the ro le-played perfo r-
mance witho u t any des criptio n o f the behav io rs
the therapis t liked o r dis liked. I n the ins tru c-
tio nal-interv entio n co nditio n, therapis ts and
clients generated ru les abo u t effectiv e s o cial be-
hav io rs .
The res u lts o f this s tu dy s u gges ted that s u b-
jects receiv ing experiential feedback impro v ed
mo re than s u bjects that did no t. I n additio n,
s u bjects in the experiential-feedback co nditio n
were mo re likely to generalize impro v ements
to no v el s itu atio ns o u ts ide the therapeu tic s et-
ting. I ns tru ctio ns did no t impro v e o v erall per-
fo rmance.
The res earch o n co ntingency-s haped s o cial
co mpetence has begu n to increas e in po pu larity.
Mo re recent s tu dies hav e made u s e o f co mpu ter
techno lo gy that pro v ides mo re immediate feed-
back to s u bjects and, at the s ame time, minimizes
the demand characteris tics o f the experimenter
(Fo llette, Do u gher, Dyks tra, & Co mpto n, 1992).
I n s u m, the wo rk o n ru le-go v ernance u ndermines
the need fo r the generatio n o f ins tru ctio ns fo r
clinical interv entio n. The accu mu lating res earch
o n co ntingency-s haped treatments demo ns trates
that ins tru ctio nal appro aches are no t neces s ary
fo r behav io r change to o ccu r.
Avoiding Rule Control:
Psychotherapy as Shaping
Within the las t decade, an increas ing nu mber
o f applied ps ycho lo gis ts hav e begu n to dev elo p
treatment techniqu es that co ns cio u s ly attempt to
u ndermine the effects o f v erbal co ntro l. Ko hlen-
berg and Ts ai (1991) hav e endeav o red to pro -
v ide a theo retical acco u nt o f the impro v ements
s ho wn by s o me clients du ring intens e client-ther-
apis t relatio ns hips and to delineate the s teps ther-
apis ts can take to facilitate thes e intens e and
cu rativ e relatio ns hips . The res u lt is functional
analytic psychotherapy (FA P), a radical behav -
io ral treatment in which the client-therapis t rela-
tio ns hip is at the co re o f the change pro ces s . The
appro ach s eems to fit well within the cu rrent lit-
eratu re o n ru le-go v ernance.
FA P theo ry indicates that, in general, the ther-
apeu tic pro ces s is facilitated by a caring, gen-
u ine, s ens itiv e, and emo tio nal client-therapis t
relatio ns hip. The as s u mptio n FA P makes is that
therapeu tic interv entio ns o ften emphas ize co n-
triv ed reinfo rcers (i.e., reinfo rcers that are u n-
likely to o ccu r o u ts ide o f a therapeu tic s etting),
and fo r that reas o n, the effects o f this interv en-
tio n may no t generalize to the natu ral env iro n-
ment. By this line o f reas o ning, fo llo wing a
client's angry o u tbu rs t with "I hear yo u s aying
that yo u ' re angry" may no t teach that client ho w
to interact effectiv ely with o thers in daily life. I n
additio n, therapis ts frequ ently diminis h the ef-
fectiv enes s o f prais e du e to o v eru s e, and the de-
liberate u s e o f co ns equ ences can be v iewed by
clients as manipu lativ e o r av ers iv e, thereby pro -
du cing co u nterpliance.
FA P therapis ts argu e that s u ch co u nterthera-
peu tic s itu atio ns can be av o ided by s tru ctu ring
therapy s u ch that the therapis t's genu ine reac-
tio ns to the client's behav io r natu rally reinfo rce
impro v ements as they happen. Su ch a pro ces s is
mo s t likely to o ccu r when the client's pres enting
pro blem is ev o ked in the actu al therapeu tic s itu -
atio n. Thu s , rather than fo rmu lating ru les o f co n-
du ct and relying o n v erbally co ns tru cted fu tu res ,
the therapis t can directly s hape the client's be-
hav io r as it o ccu rs . Fo r example, ins tead o f in-
s tru cting a client s eeking help fo r intimacy
pro blems to "do three behav io ral exchanges with
yo u r partner," an intens e and emo tio nal thera-
pis t-client relatio ns hip might natu rally ev o ke
withdrawal res po ns es . The therapis t in this s itu -
atio n can then directly reinfo rce impro v ements as
they o ccu r.
Client behav io rs o f mo s t interes t to FA P clin-
icians te tho s e that o ccu r du ring the therapy
s es s io n and are called clinically relevant behav-
iors (CR Bs ). Thes e CR Bs inclu de: daily-life
pro blems that o ccu r du ring the s es s io n (CR B1),
impro v ements that o ccu r du ring the s es s io n
(CR B2), and clients ' interpretatio ns o f their o wn
behav io r (CR B3).
Techniqu es o r gu idelines fo r therapis ts to fo l-
lo w are aimed at ev o king, no ticing, reinfo rcing,
and interpreting the client's behav io r at the time
o f o ccu rrence. FA P therapis ts are trained to fo l-
lo w fiv e s trategic ru les o f therapeu tic techniqu e:
watch fo r CR Bs , ev o ke CR Bs , reinfo rce CR B2s ,
o bs erv e the po tentially reinfo rcing effects o f
therapis t behav io r in relatio n to client CR Bs , and
giv e interpretatio ns o f v ariables that affect client
CR Bs .
Ko hlenberg and Ts ai's majo r hypo thes is is
that, the mo re pro ficient a therapis t is at o bs erv -
ing CR Bs , the mo re enhanced the therapeu tic
o u tco me. I n o ther wo rds , a therapis t who is
s killed at o bs erv ing ins tances o f clinically rele-
v ant behav io r as they o ccu r is mo re likely to nat-
u rally reinfo rce, pu nis h, and extingu is h client
behav io rs in ways that fo s ter the dev elo pment o f
behav io r u s efu l in daily life.
Du e to the pro blem o f co ntriv ed v ers u s natu ral
reinfo rcement, it is generally adv is able to av o id
pro cedu res that attempt to s tipu late the to po gra-
phy o f therapis t reactio ns in adv ance. Co nju ring
u p a reinfo rcing reactio n (e.g. "that' s terrific" o r
"great") witho u t relating it to the s pecific client-
therapis t his to ry can res u lt in reactio ns that s eem
manipu lativ e and ins incere. I n terms o f the is s u es
in this chapter, ru les fo r the therapis t that s pecify
to po graphies are likely to pro du ce ins ens itiv ity.
R ather, the ru les regarding the co ndu ct o f FA P
are general and s trategic. Fo r example, they u rge
the therapis t to o bs erv e his o r her s po ntaneo u s
priv ate reactio ns to client behav io r and bring
thes e into the ro o m.
Empirical data s u ppo rtiv e o f the FA P appro ach
are s till limited. We u s e this example, ho wev er,
becau s e there are few ps ycho therapeu tic ap-
pro aches that are s o clear in their attempt to s hape
behav io r and to av o id certain kinds o f ru le-go v -
emed behav io r. The ru le-go v ernance literatu re
pro v ides go o d co nceptu al s u ppo rt fo r its claims .
FA P is o ne o f a s mall bu t gro wing nu mber o f be-
hav io ral techniqu es o ffered as an altemativ e to in-
s tru ctio n-o riented interv entio n s trategies .
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387
v r
Developing Rule Control: The
Didactic Psychotherapies ;
Clinical radical behav io ris ts hav e o ften been
accu s ed by co gnitiv e therapis ts o f igno ring the
ro le o f co gnitio n in hu man ps ycho patho lo gy
(Bandu ra, 1977; Maho ney, 1974). A cco rding to
thes e critics , the fo cu s o f behav io r analys is o n
identifying env iro nmental v ariables , o f which
behav io r is a fu nctio n, is o v erly s implis tic and in-
co mplete u nles s s u pplemented by a co ns idera-
tio n o f co gnitiv e co ntro l. Bandu ra (1995), fo r
example, argu es that certain co gnitio ns (e.g.,
s elf-efficacy expectatio ns ) rev eal "fu nctio nal de-
pendencies " with perfo rmance.
The differences between co gnitiv e and behav -
io ral pers pectiv es , ho wev er, are mo re bas ed u po n
bas ic philo s o phical differences with res pect to
the go als o f s cience, the natu reil tru th, and the
o nto lo gical o r pragmatic s tatu s o f cau s es (Hayes
& Wils o n, 1995). Fro m a behav io ral po int o f
v iew, thinking is behav ing, and thu s a cau s al ac-
co u nt in co gnitiv e terms bo ils do wn to behav io r
cau s ing behav io r. Becau s e o f their interes t in be-
hav io ral influ ence (no t ju s t predictio n) behav io r
analys ts o bject to s u ch no nmanipu lable cau s es
(fo r mo re extended dis cu s s io ns o n this po int s ee
Hayes , 1993; Hayes & Bro wns tein, 1986; Hayes
& Hayes , 1992, Hayes , Hayes , & R ees e, 1988;
Hayes & Wils o n, 1993).
Des pite thes e philo s o phical differences , the
langu age o f ru le-go v ernance pro v ides to o ls fo r
the analys is o f co gnitiv e therapy. Thinking can
be v iewed as the hu man act o f fo rmu lating and
then fo llo w o ne's o wn ru les . I n technical terms ,
s elf-ru les are v erbal s timu li that hav e s o me o f
their ps ycho lo gical fu nctio ns as a res u lt o f their
participatio n in deriv ed s timu lu s relatio ns . The
fo rmu latio n o f s elf-ru les is a fu nctio n o f o ne' s
interactio n with a s o cial-v erbal co mmu nity that
repeatedly qu es tio ns its members abo u t pas t,
pres ent, and fu tu re actio ns and abo u t the v ari-
ables o f which their behav io r is a fu nctio n
(Zettle, 1990).
Co gnitiv e therapis ts attempt to change the im-
pact o f co gnitio n in s ev eral ways . Behav io r that
is largely co ntingency-s haped can beco me mo re
ru le-go v erned by ev o king ru les in the client and
reinfo rcing indiv idu als fo r a co rres po ndence be-
tween their actio ns and the ru les that are s tated.
Similarly, if the relev ant behav io r is already ru le-
go v erned the u nderlying ru les can be ev o ked and
s electiv ely mo dified thro u gh pliance o r tracking.
Fo r example, an adv o cate o f ratio nal emo tiv e
therapy might teach the client to fo rmu late a ru le
linking antecedent co nditio ns and relev ant ac-
tio ns ev en in cas es in which the behav io r was
do minantly co ntingency-s haped. I t is no t u n-
co mmo n to hav e clients at firs t deny that their be-
hav io r was gu ided by a ru leirratio nal o r
o therwis e. Once the behav io r is cas t in ru le
terms , ho wev er, the therapis t can s electiv ely re-
s po nd to the fo rm o f the ru le o r to the client's be-
hav io r with regard to it.
Changing a client ru le o r the behav io r co n-
tro lled by it can be do ne in many ways , bu t we
will co ns ider bo th pliance and tracking. I n the
cas e o f pliance, the therapis t u s es therapis t-medi-
ated co ns equ ences to es tablis h client ru les o f par-
ticu lar fo rms ("Yo u s ho u ld no t s ay should") and
to then res po nd to behav io r in tho s e terms . We
hav e already cited literatu re s ho wing that many
co gnitiv e interv entio ns o perate by pliance (s ee
Hayes , Zettle, & R o s enfarb, 1989 fo r a rev iew). I t
is als o po s s ible to change client ru les thro u gh
tracking. I n this appro ach, the therapis t arranges
fo r the natu ral co ns equ ences o f client tu les to be
co ntacted. Fo r example, the u s e o f ho mewo rk
that "tes ts " co gnitio ns , as in Beck' s co gnitiv e
therapy, can be tho u ght o f in thes e terms .
Thinking o f co gnitiv e therapy in ru le-go v -
erned terms fo cu s es change o n the actu al co ntext
that s u ppo rts o r weakens ru le co ntro l. This co n-
text inclu des as pects o f the relatio ns hip between
the client and the therapis t, as well as the natu ral
env iro nment in which clients liv e.
Undermining Rule Control:
The Paradoxical and
Transformational Therapies
I t is po s s ible no t ju s t to av o id ru le co ntro l, as
in s haping-bas ed appro aches , o r to u s e it, as in
co gnitiv e appro aches , bu t als o to u ndermine it
and trans fo rm it. Ou r o wn acceptance and com-
mitment therapy (A CT) is an interv entio n o f this
kind, and we will examine it in s o me detail. A CT
is a fu nctio nal co ntextu alis tic treatment appro ach
des igned to addres s is s u es o f emo tio nal av o id-
anee, exces s iv e literal res po ns e to co gnitiv e co n-
tent, and the inability to make and keep co mmit-
ments to behav io r change (Hayes , 1987; Zettle &
Hayes , 1983; Hayes & Melanco n, 1989; Hayes ,
Ko hlenberg, & Melanco n, 1989). I t is a treat-
ment that is es pecially o riented to ward the
chro nic, s ev ere, treatment-res is tant and mu ltiply-
dis o rdered client.
I n traditio nal co gnitiv e-behav io ral appro aches ,
u ndes irable emo tio ns o r tho u ghts are believ ed to
pro du ce u ndes irable patterns o f liv ing. On that
bas is , av ers iv e tho u ghts o r emo tio ns are targeted
fo r change, co ntro l, o r eliminatio n. Co nv ers ely,
rather than trying to change priv ate ev ents o r
s elf-ru les , A CT attempts to reco ntextu alize them
s o as to alter their fu nctio n witho u t altering their
fo rm o r frequ ency. I t do es this by es tablis hing a
v erbal co mmu nity o f two in which literal mean-
ing and reas o n-giv ing are deemphas ized, emo -
tio nal and co gnitiv e acceptance is enco u raged
(the co mpeting co ntext o f co ntro l is des cribed
belo w), the neces s ary link between priv ate and
o ther behav io rs is u ndermined, and go al-s etting
and achiev ement are appro ached directly.
I n the firs t s tage o f A CT, an attempt is made to
es tablis h a s tate o f "creativ e ho peles s nes s " in
which the client begins to s ee fo rmer "s o lu tio ns "
as impo s s ible to implement. I n effect, the client's
mies o f behav io r change are challenged fu nda-
mentally. When all s o lu tio ns are no lo nger s o lu -
tio ns , the client has no change ru les to fo llo w.
The client feels ho peles s , bu t it is a creativ e
ho peles s nes s becau s e fu ndamentally new ap-
pro aches are po s s ible when o ld appro aches hav e
been abando ned.
A CT then s eeks to define emo tio nal and co g-
nitiv e co ntro l as the co re pro blem. By the time
the client co mes to therapy, he o r s he has been
well trained by the s o cial-v erbal co mmu nity to
v iew co ntro l o f priv ate ev ents as impo rtant, and
ru les o f life change are u s u ally entirely cas t in
thes e terms . The s o cial-v erbal co mmu nity re-
qu ires peo ple to giv e v erbal explanatio ns fo r
their behav io r, ev en if its s o u rces are u nkno wn o r
o bs cu re (Semin & Mans tead, 1981). Many o f
thes e explanatio ns po int to the need fo r emo -
tio nal and co gnitiv e co ntro l (e.g., "I felt s o anx-
io u s I ju s t co u ldn't go "), and thu s mo s t clients
apply their behav io r-change effo rts to this tar-
get. Unfo rtu nately, thes e targets are no t readily
ru le-go v erned. Thu s , peo ple are led to apply v er-
bally mediated s o lu tio ns to targets that are do m-
inantly u nres po ns iv e to s u ch appro aches .
Fo r example, co ns ider an o bs es s iv e pers o n
who is trying no t to think s o mething. This pers o n
is applying a ru le abo u t co gnitiv e co ntro l to
tho u ght eliminatio n ("I do n't like thinking X, s o
I need to get rid o f that tho u ght"). Unfo rtu nately,
tho u ght eliminatio n is no t readily ru le-go v emed.
R u les abo u t tho u ght elirninatio n tend to elicit the
tho u ghts they no minally are des igned to elim-
nate becau s e they s pecify their targets (e.g., "I
do n't like thinking X" s pecifies "X"). A CT ther-
apis ts po int to this kind o f parado x and to the
o v erarching principie: R u les abo u t emo tio nal and
co gnitiv e co ntro l are no to rio u s ly u ns u cces s fu l.
I n o rder to weaken u nhealthy fo rms o f v erbal
co ntro l, A CT attempts to u ndermine literal
meaning its elf. Wo rds are o ften u s ed as if they
mean o r are the things to which they refer. I n
mo re technical terms , deriv ed s timu lu s relatio ns
can co me to do minate o v er directly co ntacted
s timu lu s fu nctio ns . A wo rd and the s itu atio n to
which it refers can eas ily be co nfu s ed, and many
fu nctio ns that wo u ld adhere to the s itu atio n be-
co me pres ent with regard to the wo rds . Fo r ex-
ample, a pers o n may think, "This is awfu l." The
pers o n may then act as if the pers o n is in an
awfu l s itu atio n, no t in a s itu atio n in which he o r
s he is hav ing the tho u ght, "This is awfu l." This
co ntext o f literality es tablis hes fu nctio ns fo r
tho u ght that wo u ld be appro priate to the s itu a-
tio ns co ns tru cted, bu t may no t be appro priate fo r
the tho u ght its elf. A v ariety o f experiential and
metapho rical techniqu es are u s ed to weaken
thes e deriv ed s timu lu s relatio ns . Fo r example,
clients may be as ked to repeat wo rds hu ndreds o f
times , u ntil all their "meaning" dis appears . Sim-
ilarly, clients are tau ght to ado pt a particu lar v er-
R ULE-GOVER N ED BEHA VI OR 389
388 LEA R N I N G A N D BEHA VI OR THER A PY
.1M
bal s tyle in therapy that emphas izes the natu re o f
v erbal pro ces s es (e.g., s aying, "I ' m hav ing the
tho u ght that I can't go to the mali" as o ppo s ed to
s imply s tating, "I can't go to the mall").
Emo tio nal-expo s u re exercis es fu rther weaken
ru les abo u t the neces s ity o f emo tio nal and co g-
nitiv e co ntro l. I maginal and in v iv o exercis es are
u s ed to elicit s o me o f what the client mo s t fears ,
and the reactio ns that then o ccu r are co ntacted in
deco ns tru cted fo rm.
I n the final s tages o f A CT, clients wo rk o n
their v alu es and co mmitment actio n linked to
tho s e v alu es . I n es s ence, hav ing weakened s o -
cially co nv entio nal fo rms o f ru le-co ntro l that are
o riented to ward priv ate ev ents , A CT s eeks to
s u ppo rt v erbal co ntro l targeted to ward v alu ed
behav io r change. Verbal co mmitments are made
and practiced. A CT tries to es tablis h a dis crimi-
natio n between s elf-ru les that canito t be fo llo wed
effectiv ely (i.e., ru les o f emo tio nal av o idance)
and s elf-ru les that can be fo llo wed effectiv ely
and, when fo llo wed, can lead to po s itiv e co ns e-
qu ences (e.g., co mmitments to behav io r change).
Sev eral clinical o u tco me s tu dies hav e been
co ndu cted o n A CT, and the data are s u ppo rtiv e
(s ee Hayes , Stro s ahl, & Wils o n, in pres s , fo r a re-
v iew). Ou r interes t in A CT in the co ntext o f the
pres ent chapter, ho wev er, is with the way A CT
s eeks to alter ru le co ntro l. A CT s u gges ts that
mo re empirical therapies co u ld be bu ilt aro u nd
attempts to u ndermine o r trans fo rm ru le co ntro l,
rather than s imply to u s e it o r to wo rk aro u nd it.
Application of Rules to
Psychopathology: The Example
of Suicide
Unders tanding ho w ru les alter behav io r can be
u s efu l fo r an analys is o f ps ycho patho lo gy as well
as treatment. Su icide will be o u r example, tho u gh
many o thers pres ent thems elv es (e.g., s ee Hayes ,
Wils o n, Giffo rd, Fo llette, & Stro s ahl, 1996).
The pu rpo s efu l act o f taking o ne' s o wn life is
an ins tance o f ru le-go v erned behav io r bas ed o n
deriv ed relatio ns inv o lv ing time (Hayes , 1994)
and the v erbal co ns tru ctio n o f expected co ns e-
qu ences o f actio n. Tempo ral relatio ns are a part
o f a clas s o f relatio ns that hav e to do with change,
s u ch as cau s e-effect, if . . . then, o r befo re-after.
Bas ed o n a his to ry o f deriv ed tempo ral s e-
qu ences amo ng ev ents , a pers o n is able to re-
s po nd in the pres ent by co ns tru cting a s equ ential
relatio n between at leas t two ev ents . Fo r exam-
ple, "death" can participate in if . . . then v erbal
relatio ns with many o ther ev ents that hav e ac-
qu ired des irable fu nctio ns bo th directly and
thro u gh the trans fo rmatio n o f s timu lu s fu nctio ns
tied to direct ev ents , s u ch as , "I f I am dead, I
will no lo nger s u ffer, ev eryo ne will be happier,
they will all be s o rry fo r what they' v e do ne to
me, I will finally be at peace," and s o o n.
I n technical terms , "death" enters into fo rma-
tiv e and then mo tiv ativ e au gmentals , s u ch that it
beco mes a v erbal co ns equ ence o f impo rtance
(Hayes & Wils o n, 1993). Thu s , as a v erbal ac-
tio n, s u icide is a kind o f ru le-go v emed behav io r.
Once pers o nal death beco mes a v erbal co ns e-
qu ence o f impo rtance, ru les can be fo llo wed that
giv e ris e to it. The mo tiv ating co nditio ns behind
mo re than half o f actu al o r attempted s u icides
inv o lv e an attempt to es cape fro m av ers iv e s tates
o f mind s u ch as gu ilt o r anxiety (Bau meis ter,
1990; Smith & Blo o m, 1985). Ho wev er, the im-
pact o f s u ch ru les as "I f I die, then I will be at
peace" depends u po n the degree to which they
co nflict with o ther fu nctio nal ru les , s u ch as "Su i-
cide is an o ffens e agains t Go d." I t is fo r this rea-
s o n that the ps ycho therapies and religio u s
ins titu tio ns aro u nd the wo rld s triv e to create
meaning, v alu es , and pu rpo s e in the liv es o f in-
div idu als .
This analys is makes s ens e o f the great perv a-
s iv enes s o f s u icide in hu man civ ilizatio n, es pe-
cially when co ntras ted with the argu able abs ence
o f this behav io r in no nhu mans . By this analys is ,
s u icide is no t the pro du ct o f a dis eas ed mind; it is
an o u tgro wth o f no rmal v erbal pro ces s es . Stated
ano ther way, the is s u e s hifts fro m why peo ple
kill thems elv es to the mo re impo rtant qu es tio n o f
why they do no t.
CONCLUSION
Hu mans liv e in a v erbal wo rld. A B attempts to
change hu man behav io r hav e to addres s this s im-
ple fact in s o me ways . Thu s , the s tu dy o f v erbal
regu latio n bears u po n ev ery applied techniqu e in
ps ycho lo gy. I n the pres ent chapter we hav e
s ho wn ho w v erbal regu latio n bears o n o u r clini-
cal u nders tanding, and ho w metho ds can be u s ed
to es tablis h, av o id, trans fo rm, o r u ndermine dif-
ferent kinds o f v erbal co ntro l. By co ns cio u s ly
examining ho w techniqu es deal with is s u es o f
v erbal regu latio n, the ru le-go v erned literatu re
might s u gges t mo dificatio ns o r inno v atio ns fo r
many therapeu tic pro cedu res .
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STI MULUS EQUI VA LEN CE

393
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF
STIMULUS EQUIVALENCE
Ov er the pas t nu mber o f years , the analys is o f
emergent behav io r has generated a great deal o f
experimental res earch. The bu lk o f this res earch
has been co ndu cted u s ing the matching-to -s am-
ple paradigm (Sidman, 1971). Matching-to -s am-
ple training is a fo rm o f training that is emplo yed
to teach a s eries o f co nditio nal dis criminatio ns to
a participant.
I n the s imples t v ariant o f the pro cedu re, a per-
s o n is trained to match s timu lu s A with s timu lu s
B and then trained to match s timu lu s B with
s timu lu s C. Giv en this , the pers o n may s ho w the
ability to pro du ce s ev eral "matching res po ns es "
that hav e no t actu ally been trained. The pers o n
may s ho w reflexiv ity (ability to match A with A ,
B with B, and C with C), s ymmetry (ability to
match B to A , and C to B), and, mo s t interes t-
ingly, trans itiv ity (matching A to C) (Hayes ,
1989). Where all thes e matching pheno mena
o ccu r, a s timu lu s equ iv alence clas s inclu ding A ,
B, and C is s aid to hav e been fo rmed becau s e
each member o f the clas s is treated equ iv alently
(Sidman, 1971, 1986).
Mu ch ev eryday learning pres u mably inv o lv es
the dev elo pment and mo dificatio n o f s timu lu s
equ iv alence clas s es , and it has been s u gges ted as
a paradigm fo r explaining the emergence o f
co mprehens io n and reading s kills (Sidman &
Cres s o n, 1973) and, mo re co ntro v ers ially, the
dev elo pment o f langu age its elf (Dev any, Hayes ,
& N els o n, 1986). A s triking featu re o f s timu lu s
equ iv alence clas s es is that as the nu mber o f
members (s timu li) in the clas s increas es , the
nu mber o f matching res po ns es that emerge in-
creas es dramatically. Fo r example, training 2
relatio ns hips (A to B and B to C) pro du ces a
three-member clas s (i.e., a clas s inco rpo rating
the s timu li A , B, and C) with a fu rther 7 match-
ing relatio ns hips emerging (A to A , B to 8, C to
C, B to A , C to B, A to C, C to A ), a to tal o f 32
2= 7), bu t training 4 relatio ns hips (A to B, B to
C, C to D, D to E) pro du ces a fiv e-member clas s
(A , B, C, D, E) with a fu rther 21 matching rela-
tio ns hips emerging (52 4 = 21). Thu s , training
two additio nal relatio ns hips pro du ces 14 fu rther
matching relatio ns hips . N atu ral s timu lu s equ iv a-
lence clas s es may hav e v ery many members with
a hu ge nu mber o f emerging matching relatio n-
s hips .
PROCEDURAL ISSUES
The co nv entio nal pro cedu re fo r training s tim-
u lu s equ iv alence clas s es inv o lv es training s ev eral
(typically, three) A to B relatio ns hips co ncu r-
rently u s ing a matching-to -s ample pro cedu re. On
a trial either A l, A 2, o r A 3is pres ented as a s am-
ple, and then B1, B2, and A 3are pres ented s i-
mu ltaneo u s ly. Feedback is pres ented o n co rrect
cho ices (which will be B1 fo llo wing A 1, B2fo l-
lo wing A 2, and B3fo llo wing B3). Once criterio n
perfo rmance is reached o n the matching-to -s am-
ple tas k, a s eco nd training phas e begins in which
either Bl, B2, o r B3is pres ented as a s ample and
then C 1 , C2, and C3are pres ented s imu ltane-
o u s ly. Co rrect cho ices will be Cl fo llo wing B 1,
C2fo llo wing B2, and C3fo llo wing 83. A gain,
training co ntinu es u ntil a perfo rmance criterio n is
reached. Typically, the s timu li u s ed (s u ch as the
pictu re o f an o bject, the o bject's s po ken name,
and the o bject's written name) are arbitrary (o r
meaningles s in relatio n to each o ther) o r fo rm a
clas s familiar to the langu age-co mpetent co m-
mu nity bu t no t kno wn by langu age-dis abled o r
dev elo pmentally retarded indiv idu als .
A tes t is requ ired to demo ns trate that the three
s timu lu s equ iv alence clas s es hav e been fo rmed
(the clas s es will be A l, Bl, and Cl; A 2, B2, and
C2; A 3, B3, and C3). This is achiev ed by pre-
-` s enting C 1 , C2, o r C3as s amples and then A l,
A 2, and A 3s imu ltaneo u s ly as cho ices . "Co rrect"
cho ices (that is , cho ices indicating that equ iv a-
lence clas s es hav e been fo rmed) will be A l fo l-
lo wing C I , A 2fo llo wing C2, and A 3fo llo wing
C3. Su cces s indicates that reflexiv ity, s ymme-
try, and trans itiv ity are all pres ent (Hayes , 1989).
I n langu age-co mpetent hu mans , co rrect perfo r-
mance o ccu rs s po ntaneo u s ly in a v ery high pro -
po rtio n o f indiv idu als , pro v ided the criteria fo r
perfo rmance in the two earlier training phas es o f
the experiment are s u fficiently s ev ere. I nteres t-
ingly, o ther s pecies do no t readily fo rm s timu lu s
equ iv alence clas s es (Du gdale & Lo we, 1990).
A cco rding to Sidman (1990), becau s e all de-
riv ed relatio ns mu s t emerge befo re it can be s aid
that an equ iv alence clas s has been fo rmed, there
are certain co ns is tencies that mu s t fo llo w:
1. I f the indiv idu al tes ts fo r reflexiv ity, s ymme-
try, and trans itiv ity pro v e po s itiv e, s o als o
mu s t the co mbined s ymmetry and trans itiv ity
tes t. This latter tes t is s o metimes referred to as
an equ iv alence tes t.
2. I f the equ iv alence tes t pro v es negativ e, o ne o r
mo re o f its co mpo nents mu s t als o pro v e neg-
ativ e; that is , reflexiv ity, s ymmetry, and/o r
trans itiv ity mu s t be abs ent.
3. I f o ne o f thes e pro perties is no t abs ent and
the tes t fo r equ iv alence is negativ e, we mu s t
attribu te this res u lt to ano ther facto r.
4. I f the tes t fo r equ iv alence is po s itiv e, s o als o
mu s t all tes ts fo r its co mpo nents be po s itiv e.
To date mo s t pu blis hed res earch has been co n-
cerned with the neces s ary and s u fficient co ndi-
tio ns o f training pro cedu res , the s tru ctu re o f
s timu lu s equ iv alence clas s es , and the ro le o f lan-
gu age co mpetence in s u cces s fu l perfo rmance o n
the tas k.
RELEVANCE TO EVERYDAY LIFE
Mu ch o f o u r ev eryday behav io r can be better
u nders to o d when we co ns ider ho w s timu li co me
to be treated equ iv alently. Fo r example, a child
s peaks the wo rd "ball" and gets a particu lar re-
s po ns e fro m an adu lt, s u ch as po inting to the
child's ball. When the child s ees a pictu re o f the
ball, the child s o o n learns that this image repre-
s ents the to y that is "ball." Ev entu ally, when the
child is as ked the qu es tio n "Where is yo u r ball?",
CHAPTER 19
STIMULUS EQUIVALENCE
AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY
Kevin J. Tierney
Maeve Bracken
STI MULUS EQUI VA LEN CE 395
the child will po int to the ball in the phys ical
pres ence o f the ball o r to the ball in the pictu re.
I n this example, we hav e three v ery different
s timu li, and yet each o ne has co me to elicit the
s ame res po ns e fro m the child. The three s timu li
als o fu lfill the requ irements fo r equ iv alence, that
is , reflexiv ity, s ymmetry, and trans itiv ity. Thes e
s timu li hav e therefo re fo rmed a s timu lu s equ iv -
alence clas s .
Fields , R eev e, A dams , and Verhav e (1991)
hav e argu ed that equ iv alence clas s es in co mbi-
natio n with s timu lu s generalizatio n can pro v ide
a plau s ible mechanis m fo r the fo rmatio n o f nat-
u ral catego ries . Fields et al. (1991) trained fiv e
u ndergradu ate s u bjects to match A l (2) to B1(2),
and B1(2) to C1(2), res pectiv ely. The A 1(2) and
B1(2) s timu li co ns is ted o f no ns ens e s yllables ,
while the C1(2) s timu li co ns is ted o f co ntigu o u s
ho rizo ntal s trings o f A SCI I character 177 (a
s qu are). Each s timu lu s co mpris ed a different
nu mber o f this character in a ho rizo ntal fine.
Each character was 3mm wide and 5rtwn high o n
the co mpu ter s creen. Clas s 1 (C1) inclu ded fines
2thro u gh 7 characters lo ng. Clas s 2(C2) in-
clu ded fines 19 thro u gh 24 characters lo ng. The
remaining 13fines were res erv ed fo r tes ts o f the
generalizatio n o f equ iv alence. The s timu li were
pres ented u s ing a micro co mpu ter with a mo no -
chro me mo nito r. Su bjects were trained to match
A to B and were then tes ted fo r s ymmetry, that is ,
B1 to A l, and B2to A 2. Fo llo wing this , B-C
was trained with s ix v ariants o f Cl and C2. Tes t-
ing to o k place fo r Cl(x) to B1 and C2(x) to B2,
where x repres ents the different line lengths . A t
this s tage, s u bjects were tes ted fo r all o f the
emergent relatio ns as well as the trained o nes . I n
the generalizatio n tes ting s tage, the A s timu li
s erv ed as co mparis o ns , and the intermediate line
lengths s erv ed as s amples , that is , C8 thro u gh
C18. A ll fiv e s u bjects were able to fo rm the re-
qu ired equ iv alence clas s es . A s the lines in-
creas e(' fo r C8 to C18, the likeliho o d o f cho o s ing
A l decreas ed.
Thes e s timu li became members o f an equ iv a-
lence clas s , no t thro u gh training bu t rather
thro u gh their clo s e relatio n to a s timu lu s that had
been trained. Fields et al. (1991) s u gges ted that
this co mbinatio n o f equ iv alence clas s fo rmatio n
and generalizatio n can be u s ed as a mo del o f nat-
u ral catego ries that we o bs erv e in the real wo rld.
THE ORIGINS OF EQUIVALENCE
RESPONDING
N o t s u rpris ingly, the is s u e o f the o rigin o f
equ iv alence clas s es is o ne that has receiv ed s o me
attentio n in the literatu re. A s a s tarting po int, it
might be as s u med that lo gic is the s o u rce o f
equ iv alence res po nding (Sidman & Tailby,
1982). Ho wev er, this v iew is no t s u s tainable.
Us ing the relatio n "is parallel to ," the s timu li A ,
B, and C fu lfill all requ irements neces s ary to
fo rm an equ iv alence clas s when A is parallel to
B, and B is parallel to C. This relatio n is reflex-
iv e, as each s timu lu s is parallel to its elf. I t is als o
s ymmetric, as B is parallel to A , and C is paral-
lel to B. Finally, it is trans itiv e, as A is als o par-
allel to C. This equ iv alence relatio n fo llo ws
mathematic lo gic, s u ppo rting the v iew that lo gic
is the s o u rce o f equ iv alence.
N o t all lo gical relatio ns are neces s arily equ iv -
alent, ho wev er. Fo r example, the relatio n "is
greater than" do es no t po s s es s the pro perties o f
equ iv alence. I f A is greater than B, and B is
greater than C, then A is greater than C. This is
a trans itiv e relatio n. Ho wev er, this relatio n is
neither s ymmetric no r reflexiv e. B is no t greater
than A , C is no t greater than B, and no s timu lu s
is greater than its elf. Unlike an equ iv alence rela-
tio n, this relatio n do es no t requ ire all three pro p-
erties and yet it is s till a lo gic relatio n. A s
equ iv alence do es no t demand lo gic, lo gic there-
fo re canno t be its s o u rce (Sidman, 1990).
Other res earchers prefer to argu e that equ iv a-
lence s tems fro m naming. N aming has been
des cribed as "a s ymbo lic s kill that inv o lv es bidi-
rectio nality . . (o r) an arbitrary v erbal res po ns e
which is s ymmetrically related to its co ntro lling
s timu lu s " (Du gdale & Lo we, 1990; p. 132). The
s timu lu s and v erbal res po ns e are s ymmetric, be-
cau s e the s timu lu s elicits the particu lar v erbal
res po ns e and the v erbal res po ns e co ntro ls be-
hav io rs that are related to the s timu lu s .
Equ iv alence has been demo ns trated in chil-
rr
dren as yo u ng as two years o ld. Us ing three
gro u ps o f children, Dev any, Hayes , and N els o n
(1986) demo ns trated that s timu lu s equ iv alence
and langu age dev elo pment are indeed clo s ely re-
lated. The firs t gro u p were no rmally dev elo ping
pres cho o lers recru ited fro m the child-care center
in the Univ ers ity o f N o rth Caro lina. Thes e chil-
dren had s peech s kills co ns is tent with their
chro no lo gical age. Gro u ps 2and 3co ns is ted o f
retarded children. Gro u p 2s po ke inco mplete bu t
brief s entences when pro mpted and had s o me
v o lu ntary s peech. Children who were able to u s e
s ign langu age were als o inclu ded in this gro u p.
Gro u p 3was clas s ified as the no -langu age gro u p.
The children failed to s po ntaneo u s ly u s e wo rd
s igns o r pictu re-bo ards and were lacking in finte-
tio nal langu age s kills and s ign langu age. The
three gro u ps were matched fo r mental age o n the
bas is o f an indiv idu al intelligence tes t.
Each child was tau ght fo u r co nditio nal dis -
criminatio ns : if A , then B; if D, then E; if A , then
C; if D, then F. The s timu li u s ed were animal-
like figu res co lo red with markers . The s timu li
were pres ented o n s heets o f white paper, with a
s ample at the to p o f the page and two co mpar-
is o ns o n the bo tto m o f the page. The left-right
po s itio n o f the co mparis o ns was rando mized to
prev ent cho ice o f po s itio n rather than s timu lu s .
Du ring training, the children were pro mpted
when neces s ary to s elect the co rrect s timu lu s . A s
the child made the co rrect cho ice, the pro mpting
was faded.
R es u lts s ho wed that the no rmal child gro u p
and the retarded/langu age gro u p requ ired fewer
trials o n the co nditio nal dis criminatio n tas ks than
the retarded/no -langu age gro u p. Du ring the tes t-
ing s tage, the perfo rmance o f langu age-able chil-
dren was co ns is tent with the fo rmatio n o f
equ iv alence clas s es , whereas the langu age-dis -
abled gro u p perfo rmed at chance lev el o nly.
Thes e findings s u ppo rt the v iew that a clo s e link
exis ts between langu age dev elo pment and the
fo rmatio n o f equ iv alence clas s es .
The au tho rs maintained, ho wev er, that it was
no t po s s ible to determine whether s timu lu s
equ iv alence clas s fo rmatio n was a neces s ary re-
qu irement fo r langu age dev elo pment o r whether
langu age was neces s ary fo r the fo rmatio n o f
equ iv alence clas s es .
A nu mber o f au tho rs hav e s u ppo rted the v iew
that giv ing each s timu lu s a name makes it eas ier
to treat the s timu li equ iv alently (Beas ty, 1987).
I n a s eries o f experiments co ndu cted by Lo we
and Beas ty (1987), it was demo ns trated that chil-
dren who failed an equ iv alence tas k, and were
then tau ght to giv e the s timu li names , later s u c-
ceeded o n the s ame equ iv alence tes t. The chil-
dren were tau ght to match A (v ertical line
s ample) to B (green co mparis o n), and A (v ertical
line s ample) to C (triangle co mparis o n). Tes ts
were then co ndu cted to as s es s whether the s u b-
jects co u ld fo rm an equ iv alence clas s with B and
C. Su bjects who failed this tes t were then tau ght
to name the s timu li; that is , when pres ented with
the A -B relatio n, they were to ld to s ay "u p-
green" and "u p-triangle" when pres ented with
the A -C relatio n. When the s u bjects were re-
tes ted, they immediately fo rmed the B-C and C-
B relatio ns .
Cro wther, Du gdale, and Lo we (1993) carried
o u t an experiment with 13two - to fiv e-year o ld
children. The experiment co ns is ted o f two
s tages . I nitially, a pro cedu re was dev elo ped to
ens u re rapid leaming o n arbitrary matching tas ks
witho u t the u s e o f ins tru ctio ns s u ch as "A go es
with B." The s timu li co ns is ted o f three-dimen-
s io nal wo o den s hapes . Tho s e who failed to learn
the tas k were tau ght to v o calize labels fo r the A
s timu li, and if they failed yet again, they were
tau ght a label fo r the B s timu li. There were two
different types o f labeling training. A fter picking
u p a s timu lu s , the children were to ld: "That is
Omni/Delta," o r the experimenter s imply s aid,
"Omni/Delta." Tho s e who failed to learn the la-
bels were tau ght to po int to the appro priate s tim-
u lu s while s aying the wo rds . A fter learning the
A -B tas k, the children were tes ted o n a s ymme-
try tes t (B-A ).
1. N ine o f the children learned the A -B tas k
witho u t any labeling interv entio ns and pas s ed
the s ymmetry tes t.
2. Two children learned the A -B tas k bu t failed
o n the s ymmetry tes t. Thes e children were
394 LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY
396 LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY STIMULUS EQUIVALENCE 397
then giv en labeling training. One was to ld,
"That is Omni/Delta," where,as the o ther was
to ld, "Say Omni/Delta." ,The firs t child
learned the co rrect labels in 32trials bu t failed
the s ymmetry tes t again. He was then tau ght
the labels fo r the B s timu li and s u bs equ ently
pas s ed the tes t. The s eco nd child requ ired 96
trials to leam the labels . She als o applied the
labels to the co rres po nding B s timu li and
pas s ed the s ymmetry tes t.
3. Two children failed to learn the A -B tas k be-
fo re labeling to o k place. The firs t child was
then giv en the relatio nal ins tru ctio n "That is ."
He res po nded 100% co rrectly o n the A -B tas k
bu t failed the s ymmetry tes t. He then learned
the labels fo r the B s timu li and went o n to
pas s the tes t. The s eco nd child was giv en the
"Say" ins tru ctio n bu t s till failed to leam the
labels . Po inting was then intro du ced. A fter a
to tal o f 196labeling trials , s he leamed the A -
B relatio n and reached criterio n after 48 trials .
She then pas s ed the s ymmetry tes t.
The res u lts indicate that the leaming o f labels
facilitates the learning o f co nditio nal dis crimina-
tio ns .
A no ther way to as s es s the ro le o f naming in
equ iv alence clas s fo rmatio n is to as s es s no n-
hu mans o n s imilar tas ks . Mclntire, Cleary, and
Tho mps o n (1987) repo ned that a gro u p o f mo n-
keys , that they had trained dis played all the
defining characteris tics o f equ iv alence. Hayes
(1989) and Sau nders (1989), ho wev er, argu ed
that thes e res u lts co u ld be attribu ted to the ex-
tens iv e training receiv ed by the s u bjects in all
the tes ted relatio ns (i.e., there were no deriv ed re-
latio ns ). I f there are no deriv ed relatio ns , there is
no po s s ibility o f an equ iv alence clas s .
The res u lts o f a s tu dy by Sav age-R u mbau gh,
R u mbau gh, Smith, and Laws o n (1980) s eemed
mu ch mo re pro mis ing in relatio n to emergent be-
hav io rs in no nhu mans . Sav age-R u mbau gh et al.
tau ght two chimpanzees (Sherman and A u s tin)
lexigram names fo r a nu mber o f fo o d and to o l
o bjects . A fo o d and a to o l item were pu t as a s et
into each o f three bins . The chimps were then re-
info rced fo r pu tting the two remaining s ets o f
to o l and fo o d items into the appro priate bins .
Once they had acco mplis hed this , they were re-
qu ired to pu t o ne o f the items into a bin and label
it with a fo o d o r to o l lexigram. They ev entu ally
learned to label the fo o d and to o l items witho u t
the u s e o f the bins . They were then pres ented
with fiv e fo o d items and fiv e to o l items that they
had prev io u s ly learned the lexigram names fo r
bu t had no t clas s ified as fo o d o r to o l items .
A u s tin co rrectly catego rized all the items , and
Sherman inco rrectly catego rized o ne.
I n the s eco nd s tage, pho to graphs o f the three
fo o ds and to o ls u s ed in the initial catego rizatio n
were taped to the co rres po nding o bjects , and the
chimps had to label them as fo o ds o r to o ls . Fo l-
lo wing this , they labeled the pho to graphs alo ne.
Then they were pres ented with pho to graphs o f
fo u r to o ls and fiv e fo o ds that they had learned the
lexigram names fo r bu t had no t labeled fo o ds o r
to o ls . Sherman labeled them all co rrectly, bu t
A u s tin had to ro tate the pho to s befo re labeling
them co rrectly.
I n the final s tage, the three fo o d and to o l lexi-
grams u s ed in training were taped o nto pho to s o f
co rres po nding o bjects , and the chimps had to
label the o bjects in the pho to s as fo o ds o r to o ls .
When they s u cceeded o n this tas k, the pho to s
were remo v ed, and the chimps labeled the lexi-
grams . Sherman labeled 15o u t o f the 16pre-
s ented to him, and A u s tin labeled 17 o u t o f 17.
A cco rding to Ceru tti and R u mbau gh (1993),
"Once the fo o ds and to o ls co u ld be indiv idu ally
named, s o rted by co ncept clas s , and named by
co ncept clas s , the names o f fo o ds and to o ls co u ld
als o be named by co ncept clas s " (p. 817).
This deriv ed relatio n co u ld be s aid to be an
equ iv alence relatio n. To fu lly des cribe thes e
s timu li as members o f an equ iv alence clas s , fu r-
ther tes ts fo r s ymmetry and trans itiv ity wo u ld
hav e to be co ndu cted. I t s till remains to be s een
whether Sherman and A u s tin were treating each
member equ iv alently.
Schu s terman and Kas tak (1993) examined the
po s s ibility that a Califo rnia s ea lio n co u ld pas s
tes ts fo r equ iv alence. R io was a three-year-o ld
Califo rnia s ea lio n when the s tu dy began. Train-
ing to o k place in o u tdo o r po o ls at Lo ng Marine
Labo rato ry in Santa Cru z, Califo rnia.
The matching-to -s ample apparatu s co ns is ted
o f a s et o f wo o den bo ards co ntaining three win-
do w-fro nted bo xes in which the s timu li were
placed. The middle bo ard ho u s ed the s ample
s timu lu s , with the co mparis o n s timu li o n the
o u ter bo ards . The s timu li were placed in the
bo xes by two as s is tants , who receiv ed their in-
s tru ctio ns v ia headpho nes fro m the experimenter.
The co mparis o n s timu li were placed in the bo xes
s imu ltaneo u s ly s o that the s u bject wo u ld no t
make a cho ice bas ed u po n the o rder o f place-
ment. Pieces o f fres h fis h were giv en to R io as re-
info rcement fo r co rrect res po ns es .
Thirty po tential equ iv alence clas s es were
trained. The s timu li fo r the firs t 8 were three-di-
mens io nal "ju nk" o bjects made o f wo o d, s teel, o r
plas tic. They were painted black and were pre-
s ented agains t a white backgro u nd. Stimu li fo r
the next 22clas s es co ns is ted o f black s hapes
painted o n a white backgro u nd o n pieces o f ply-
wo o d. A fter the s ample and co mparis o ns were
pres ented, the s u bject was expected to make a
cho ice by pres s ing her no s e to the bo ard co n-
taining o ne o f the co mparis o ns . R io learned the
firs t 2A -B relatio ns by trial and erro r, the next 6
by exclu s io n, and the las t 22by trial and erro r
again. A fter each pro blem had been learned, it
was inco rpo rated into the bas eline o f prev io u s ly
learned s timu li. R io was then tes ted o n 12B-A
relatio ns , and if they were s u cces s fu lly acco m-
plis hed, training began o n B-C relatio ns . Thes e
were tau ght by trial and erro r, and when they had
been leamed, they were als o inco rpo rated in the
bas eline o f prev io u s ly leamed s timu li. Fo llo wing
training, R io was tes ted o n C-B s ymmetry, A -C
trans itiv ity, and C-A equ iv alence.
On the B -A s ymmetry tes t, R io pas s ed 8 o u t o f
12pro blems . On the C-B s ymmetry tes ts , s he
pas s ed 10o u t o f 12pro blems , which was s tatis -
tically abo ye chance. On the A -C trans itiv ity
tes t, s he had a s co re o f 11 o u t o f 12, and o n the
C-A tes t s he pas s ed 14 o u t o f 18 tes ts . Becau s e
R io pas s ed all the neces s ary tes ts fo r equ iv alence
witho u t the u s e o f labeling, naming, o r ins tru c-
tio n, it wo u ld appear that langu age is indeed u n-
neces s ary fo r the fo rmatio n o f equ iv alence
clas s es . I f this is the cas e, the o rigin o f s timu lu s
equ iv alence clas s fo rmatio n is left u nres o lv ed.
Sidman (1990) s u gges ted that equ iv alence
may no t hav e a s o u rce as s u ch bu t that it may be
a giv en o r a "fu ndamental s timu lu s fu nctio n."
A s children gro w, they are tau ght to s ay a par-
ticu lar wo rd in res po ns e to the pres entatio n o f a
particu lar s timu lu s . They are als o tau ght to do the
rev ers e, that is , po int o u t the s timu lu s when the
wo rd is s po ken. Children receiv e a great deal o f
reinfo rcement fo r this type o f behav io r (which is
called s ymmetry in equ iv alence terco s ) and s u b-
s equ ently engage in it frequ ently. A s this type o f
emergent behav io r is co ntinu o u s ly reinfo rced,
o ther fo rms o f s imilar behav io r may als o emerge
as a natu ral co ns equ ence. Emergence o f equ iv a-
lence may be facilitated by, bu t no t dependent
u po n, the emergence o f s ymmetrical behav io r
thro u gh the reinfo rcement o f "naming." Whether
equ iv alence is a pheno meno n in its o wn right o r
is dependent o n langu age, it s eems clear that no r-
mally dev elo ping langu age-able hu mans po s s es s
the ability to fo rm equ iv alence clas s es , u s u ally
with the minimu m o f effo rt.
SOME APPLICATIONS
Hav ing o u tlined the bas ic pheno mena o f equ i-
v alence clas s fo rmatio n, we will no w attempt to
indicate the relev ance o f s o me o f this literatu re
fo r behav io r therapy.
Anxiety Disorders
A s a s tarting po int, we will co ns ider an o ld
bu t endu ring o bjectio n to a co nditio ning theo ry
o f anxiety dis o rders (R achman, 1977). One o f
the o bjectio ns rais ed by R achman is that many
indiv idu als who s u ffer fro m anxiety dis o rders ,
inclu ding pho bias , canno t recall hav ing had an
u npleas ant o r av ers iv e experience in the pres -
ence o f a feared s timu lu s . Fo r this reas o n, many
au tho rs hav e res o rted to co gnitiv e explanatio ns
LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR THERAPY 399 STI MULUS EQUI VA LEN CE
and hav e emphazis ed the ro le o f beliefs and ex-
pectatio ns as the cau s e o f pho bias . A related
is s u e is the failu re o f anxiety res po ns es to extin-
gu is h o v er time.
There is a gro wing literatu re o n the trans fer o f
fu nctio ns thro u gh equ iv alence clas s es that is o f
particu lar relev ance to this is s u e and may pro v ide
an alternativ e explanatio n to the co gnitiv e ac-
co u nts that many au tho rs hav e res o rted to in
dealing with the pro blematic o bs erv atio ns re-
po rted abo ye. Trans fer o f fu nctio n refers to the
pheno meno n whereby a dis criminativ e res po ns e
trained to o ne member o f an equ iv alence clas s
trans fers to o ther members witho u t fu rther train-
ing. There are nu mero u s examples o f trans fer o f
dis criminativ e fu nctio n in the literatu re. Hayes ,
Ko hlenberg, and Hayes (1991) hav e demo n-
s trated trans fer o f co nditio nal reinfo rcement and
pu nis hment fu nctio ns thro u gh equ iv alence clas s es .
Bames and Keenan (1993) hav e demo ns trated a
trans fer o f co ntro l thro u gh equ iv alence clas s es o f
co mplex, time-bas ed s chedu le res po nding. They
u s ed two different s chedu les . One was s imilar to
a ratio s chedu le and generated high rates o f re-
s po nding by participants . The o ther was s imilar
to a D.R .L. s chedu le and generated lo w rate re-
s po nding. Hayes , Dev any, Ko hlenberg, Bro wn-
s tein, and Shelby (1987) demo ns trated trans fer o f
co ntro l o f clapping and hand wav ing. Other
fo rms o f res po nding that hav e been s ho wn to
trans fer in this manner are co nditio nal matching
(Gatch & Os bo me, 1989) and s imple s imu ltane-
o u s dis criminatio ns (de R o s e, Mcllv ane, Du be,
& Sto ddard, 1988).
The s tu dy that is o f mo s t relev ance to pres ent
co ns ideratio ns , ho wev er, is a s tu dy by Do u gher,
A u gu s to n, Markham, Greenway, and Wu lfert
(1994). I n this s tu dy, two experiments were re-
po ned n which v o lu nteer co llege s tu dents
s erv ed as participants . I n experiment 1, two fo u r-
member equ iv alence clas s es were es tablis hed
u s ing a s tandard matching-to -s ample training.
This was fo llo wed by clas s ical co nditio ning in
which a member o f o ne clas s o f s timu li s erv ed as
a CS+ fo r deliv ery o f an electric s ho ck and a
member o f the s eco nd clas s s erv ed as a CS-. A l-
tho u gh there was s o me v ariability in res po nding,
trans fer o f co nditio ning was demo ns trated to
o ther members o f the equ iv alence clas s inv o lv ing
the s timu lu s u s ed as a CS+. The res po ns e mea-
s u re u s ed was s kin co ndu ctance. I n experiment 2,
it was demo ns trated that extinctio n fu nctio ns
trans ferred to all o ther members o f an equ iv a-
lence clas s when o ne member o f the clas s was
pres ented in an extinctio n pro cedu re.
Taken in co nju nctio n with the general litera-
tu re o n trans fer o f fu nctio n, thes e findings pro -
v ide an initial res po ns e to o ne o f the o ldes t and
mo s t endu ring pro blems fo r a co ntingency-bas ed
acco u nt o f an impo rtant clinical dis o rder. Ho w-
ev er, as Do u gher et al. (1994) hav e argu ed, the
s trength and s tability o f the res po ns es u s ed in
their s tu dy are no t co mparable to tho s e in clini-
cal co nditio ns . Co ns equ ently, s o me cau tio n mu s t
be exercis ed in extrapo lating fro m thes e res u lts .
A no ther co mmo n o bjectio n to behav io ral ac-
co u nts o f the acqu is itio n o f pho bias is deriv ed
fro m the o bs erv atio n that s timu li do no t appear to
hav e an equ al po tential to beco me co nditio ned
fear s timu li (Seligman, 1971). Seligman has pro -
po s ed that certain s timu lu s -res po ns e co nnectio ns
are bio lo gically "prepared." I t is argu ed that s u ch
co nnectio ns are o f bio lo gical s ignificance, eas ily
co nditio ned, and s lo w to extingu is h. The tradi-
tio nal behav io ral co u nterargu ment to this po s itio n
is that o nto genic and no t phylo genic pro ces s es ac-
co u nt fo r s u ch no nequ ipo tentiality o f s timu li. That
is , to explain why s o me s timu li appear to be pre-
pared and o thers do no t, behav io ris ts hav e s o me-
times argu ed that u no bs erv ed experiences within
the lifetime o f the indiv idu al hav e pro du ced the
two catego ries o f s timu li. Fo r example, McA llis -
ter and McA llis ter (1995) argu ed that experiments
that pu rpo rt to demo ns trate preparednes s o ften fail
to ro le o u t the effects o f ps eu do co nditio ning and
s ens itizatio n as alternativ e s o u rces o f prepared-
nes s . Ho wev er, this argu ment is rather weak be-
cau s e it relies o n indiv idu als hav ing direct experi-
ence o f all po tential s timu li to prime them as eas ily
co nditio ned o r difficu lt-to -co nditio n s timu li. I n
practical terms , this ro u te to preparednes s s eems
cu mbers o me and u nlikely. A ltho u gh there is no
res earch that impinges directly o-n this is s u e, it is
eas y to env is age ho w equ iv alence clas s es might
pro v ide a mo re efficient and plau s ible o nto genic
mechanis m to preparednes s . Fo r example, it is
po s s ible that a natu ral catego ry inco rpo rating po -
tentially pho bic s timu li co u ld be fo rmed v ia a
co mbinatio n o f a natu rally o ccu rring analo gu e o f
matching-to -s ample training and s timu lu s gener-
alizatio n, as o u tlined by Fields et al. (1991). Su b-
s equ ently, an u npleas ant experience with o ne
member o f this clas s might be s u fficient to prime
all o ther members o f that clas s as eas ily co ndi-
tio ned s timu li.
Clinical Tests
A s eco nd applicatio n o f the equ iv alence clas s
literatu re is bas ed o n the as s u mptio n that the fail-
u re o f v erbally co mpetent hu man beings to fo rm
equ iv alence clas s es , u s ing experimental pro ce-
du res kno wn to generate equ iv alence, tells u s
s o mething abo u t their exis ting s timu lu s clas s es
and prio r experiences . The relev ant findings
co me fro m s tu dies that emplo yed no narbitrary
s timu li.
I n keeping with a lo ng traditio n in behav io r
analys is , the s timu li emplo yed in mo s t s tu dies o f
s timu lu s equ iv alence to date hav e been arbitrary
and hav e had no intended prio r relatio ns hip to
each o ther. They hav e u s u ally been arbitrary v i-
s u al s timu li (e.g., Dev any et al., 1986), altho u gh
mo re recently they hav e been dru g s tates (de
Grandpre, Bickel, & Higgins , 1992) and hapti-
cally perceiv ed s timu li; that is , s timu li who s e
s hapes were perceiv ed by manu al wielding
(Tierney, De Largy, & Bracken, 1995) hav e all
been u s ed s u cces s fu lly. Ho wev er, the his to ry o f
behav io r analys is teaches u s that o ccas io nal de-
v iatio ns fro m this time-ho no red practice may be
info rmativ e. Fo r example, the landmark experi-
ment pu blis hed by Garcia and Ko elling (1966)
o n tas te av ers io n learning that u s ed no narbitrary
s timu li had impo rtant implicatio ns fo r the s tu dy
o f as s o ciativ e pro ces s es .
A n early s tu dy that emplo yed no narbitrary
s timu li in an equ iv alence experiment was re-
po ned by Watt, Keenan, Barnes and Cairns ,
(1991), who fo u nd that if no narbitrary s timu lu s
elements were u s ed, s o me N o rthem I ris h Fro tes -
tant s u bjects failed a tes t o f s timu lu s equ iv alence
clas s fo rmatio n. This o ccu rred when A -elements
were Catho lic names (e.g., Patrick O'Hagen), B-
elements were no ns ens e s yllables (e.g., zid), and
C-elements were Pro tes tant s ymbo ls (e.g., o r-
ange o rder). I n co ntras t, Englis h s u bjects pre-
s u mably witho u t the s ame lengthy experience o f
prio r learning abo u t Catho lic names and Pro -
tes tant s ymbo ls did s ho w s timu lu s equ iv alence
clas s fo rmatio n. This res u lt s u gges ts that s timu -
lu s equ iv alence clas s fo rmatio n may be s ys tem-
atically dis ru pted by prio r experiences with the
s timu li.
A n analo go u s experiment repo ned by Les lie,
Tiemey, R o bins o n, Keenan, Watt, and Barnes
(1993) u s ed the metho do lo gy in a s imilar man-
ner. Ho wev er, the s u bjects u s ed by Les lie et al.
were general anxiety patients , and the s timu li
were anxiety-related s timu li. The experiment
u s ed nine patients who were being treated fo r
general anxiety and a matched co ntro l gro u p.
The firs t s tage o f training es tablis hed links be-
tween s timu lu s wo rds that des cribed anxiety-
pro v o king s itu atio ns (e.g., a jo b interv iew) and
no ns ens e s yllables . When thes e links were es -
tablis hed, s u bjects were tau ght to match the
s ame no ns ens e s yllables to s timu lu s wo rds that
des cribed pleas ant o u tco mes . A ll s u bjects were
then tes ted to determine whether the trans itiv e
link between the threatening s itu atio ns and the
pleas ant o u tco mes had emerged. Thes e trans i-
tiv e links were o bs erv ed fo r eight o u t o f the nine
co ntro l s u bjects bu t fo r o nly two o f the general
anxiety patients . Fu rthermo re, there was les s
o v erlap between the two gro u ps o n the emer-
gence o f trans itiv e links than there was fo r their
s co res o n the Speilberger State-Trait A nxiety I n-
v ento ry (Speilberger, Go rs u ch, & Lu s hene,
1970). Thu s , the equ iv alence tes t appeared to
pro v ide a mo re po werfu l metho d fo r dis crimi-
nating between the two gro u ps than a tes t that is
ro u tinely u s ed in clinical practice fo r that pu r-
po s e. Obv io u s ly, thes e findings will need to be
replicated with larger gro u ps o f s u bjects befo re
the metho do lo gy can be emplo yed as a diagno s -
tic to o l in clinical practice. Ho wev er, the initial
indicatio ns are pro mis ing. Fu rthermo re, it may
398
400LEA R N I N G A N D BEHA V1OR THER A PY STI MULUS EQUI VA LEN CE

401
be po s s ible to extend this ratio nale to o ther clin-
ical pro blems .
Reading
So me additio nal applicatio ns o f the equ iv a-
lence literatu re s tem fro m s o me early experi-
ments that examined the bas ic pheno meno n.
Sidman (1971) was initially interes ted in reading
co mprehens io n in children with learning diffi-
cu lties . He v iewed the earlies t co nditio nal dis -
criminatio n training experiments as s implified
v ers io ns o f s tandard reading co mprehens io n
tas ks .
A cco rding to Sidman and Tailby (1982), the
findings fro m experiments o n matching-to -s am-
ple training are o f relev ance in three ways . Firs t,
the o bs erv atio n that the nu mber o f emergent re-
latio ns can greatly exceed the nu mber o f trained
relatio ns means that the pro cedu re is an ex-
tremely efficient fo rm o f training. I n an early
experiment (Sidman, 1971), retarded ado les cente
learned to s elect pictu res (A ) co nditio nally u po n
20dictated pictu re names (B). Su bs equ ently,
they learned to s elect printed names (C) co ndi-
tio nally u po n the s ame 20dictated names . Sid-
man and Tailby then demo ns trated that A -B and
A -C were equ iv alence relatio ns by tes ting fo r
s ymmetry and trans itiv ity. Su bjects demo n-
s trated an ability to co rrectly s elect an appro pri-
ate pictu re co nditio nally u po n pres entatio n o f a
printed wo rd (C-B) and als o to s elect an appro -
priate printed wo rd co nditio nally u po n pres en-
tatio n o f a pictu re. Thes e were u ntrained o r
emergent res po ns es that were no t ev ident prio r to
training. The training o f the 40co nditio nal rela-
tio ns had giv en ris e to 80new perfo rmances , as
o ral naming o f pictu res (B-A ) and printed wo rds
(C-A ) was als o o bs erv ed. A later experiment
(Sidman & Tailby, 1982) added an additio nal
member to the s timu lu s clas s , yielding a two - to
fiv efo ld increas e in teaching efficiency.
Seco nd, Sidman argu ed that there are fo rmal
s imilarities between the types o f res po nding o b-
s erv ed in equ iv alence experiments and reading.
Fo r example, matching au dito ry to v is u al s timu li
co rres po nds to s imple au dito ry co mprehens io n;
matching v is u al s timu li to each o ther co rre-
s po nds to reading co mprehens io n, and naming
textu al s timu li co rres po nds to s imple o ral read-
ing. Thes e fo rmal s imilarities are s u fficient to
s u gges t that matching-to -s ample training might
co ns titu te an efficient teaching metho d.
Fu rthermo re, Sidman (1994) has demo ns trated
that matching au dito ry wo rds to pictu res and to
printed wo rds is a s u fficient prerequ is ite fo r the
emergence o f reading co mprehens io n and o ral
reading. He has u rged the dev elo pment o f au to -
mated pro grams to teach reading co mprehens io n
v ia pu rely receptiv e au dito ry-v is u al training.
Su ch an applicatio n wo u ld co ns titu te a direct
practical applicatio n o f his and o thers ' experi-
mental findings to an impo rtant edu catio nal is s u e.
Third, lingu is ts hav e challenged behav io r an-
alytic acco u nts o f langu age by argu ing that u n-
reinfo rced u tterances are a co mmo n featu re o f
langu age (e.g., Cho ms ky, 1965). The equ iv a-
lence paradigm pro v ides a mechanis m fo r the
emergence o f apparently u nreinfo rced matching-
to -s ample and o ral naming and expo s es the
po tential s o u rce o f reinfo rcement fo r s u ch be-
hav io rs . A ltho u gh the acco u nt requ ires fu rther
elabo ratio n, it is at leas t a s mall s tep in the di-
rectio n o f addres s ing this o u ts tanding o bjectio n
by Cho ms ky.
General ization
A po s s ible fu rther applicatio n o f the equ iv a-
lence paradigm to behav io r therapy s tems fro m
s o me recent wo rk by I . Taylo r and M. O'R eilly
(pers o nal co mmu nicatio n, December 1995),
who s e s tu dy inv o lv ed training yo u ng adu lts with
mental dis ability in the s kills requ ired to s ho p in
a s u permarket. I n co mmo n with many attempts
to teach s kills to s u ch indiv idu als , Taylo r and
O'R eilly were co ncerned with the failu re to gen-
eralize acqu ired s kills to new s ettings . They ev al-
u ated two metho ds to impro v e generalizatio n.
One techniqu e inv o lv ed training mu ltiple exem--
plars ; that is , they trained partio ipants in a range
o f s u permarket s ettings . The s eco nd metho d in-
VV.
v o lv ed equ iv alence training u s ing pho to graphs o f
different s u permarkets . Bo th metho ds were o b-
s erv ed to be mo derately s u cces s fu l in facilitating
generalizatio n o f the acqu ired s kills to new s et-
tings .
GENERAL COMMENTS
So me deficiencies hav e manifes ted in tradi-
tio nal behav io ral explanatio ns o f clinical pro b-
lems and o ther co mplex behav io rs . A t a general
lev el, thes e difficu lties s tem fro m an inability o f
behav io ris ts to s pecify plau s ible s ets o f his to rical
antecedents that can acco mmo date all that is
kno wn abo u t the natu re, dis tribu tio n, and co m-
plexity o f s u ch behav io rs . The res po ns e o f many
behav io r analys ts has been to ado pt mo re co gni-
tiv ely o riented appro aches (Latimer & Sweet,
1984).
I n this chapter, we hav e tried to s ho w ho w the
gro wing literatu re o n s timu lu s equ iv alence can
help to addres s s o me o f thes e difficu lties by en-
abling u s to s pecify the s o rts o f his to rical an-
tecedents that can addres s s o me o f the perceiv ed
deficiencies in a nu mber o f fu nctio nal expla-
natio ns . We are o ptimis tic that the gro wing
literatu re will extend the plau s ibility o f s u ch ex-
planatio ns and will pro v ide ins ights into o ther
pro blems o f interes t to behav io r therapis ts . Fu r-
thermo re, we hav e s ho wn ho w the appro ach can
be o f practica! u s e in the treatment o f s o me clin-
ical pro blems . A gain, we are co nfident that fu -
tu re res earch will rev eal techniqu es o f ev en
wider clinical u tility.
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A s o ne o f u s was riding the N ew Yo rk s u bway
las t week, there was a man reciting dis o rganized
pas s ages fro m the wo rks o f Shakes peare in a
v ery lo u d v o ice. Mo s t pas s engers left the s u bway
car alter a minu te o r two . I t was clear that fo r
mo s t peo ple this was v ery bizarre behav io r. This
anecdo te illu minates the dimens io ns alo ng which
behav io r is ju dged to be adaptiv e by o thers . Fo r
behav io r to be s u cces s fu l, it mu s t o ccu r in an ap-
pro priate place and at an appro priate time, it
mu s t fit the s timu lu s s itu atio n, and it mu s t be ap-
pro priate in its fo rm. The ps ycho lo gical mecha-
nis ms that u nderlie the timing and s itu atio nal
co ntro l o f behav io r hav e been widely s tu died
(Bals am, 1988). I n co ntras t, the mechanis ms that
u nderlie the pro du ctio n o f new behav io r hav e
no t generated as mu ch res earch activ ity. This is
s u rpris ing in that the indu ctio n o f new behav io r
is a bas ic qu es tio n in all aneas o f ps ycho lo gy.
Fo r example, a fu ndamental qu es tio n in the
s tu dy o f dev elo pment is why o ne res po ns e fo rm
giv es way to ano ther as the o rganis m gets o lder.
Babies go fro m crawling to walking, o r fro m
s u ckling to feeding. N ew fo rms emerge, de novo,
as when a child' s firs t wo rds are u ttered. Simi-
larly, creativ e pro blem s o lv ing is a to pic o f s tu dy
in co gnitiv e ps ycho lo gy. I n the s tu dy o f learning,
it is no t yet u nders to o d why s haping indu ces new
behav io r. I n edu catio n, o ne is co ns tantly co n-
cerned with the teaching o f new res po ns es , and
s u cces s fu l ps ycho therapy o ften requ ires that
clients learn new ways o f reacting. I t is clear that
when we u nders tand the principies that u nderlie
the generatio n o f new behav io r, we will hav e
info rmatio n that is u s efu l acro s s the range o f
practical pro blems that ps ycho lo gis ts hav e ad
dres s ed.
I n this chapter, we rev iew s o me o f o u r o wn
wo rk o n the o rigins o f new behav io r. We hav e
s tu died this pro blem in three do mains . We hav e