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| Int'l Symposium - Methodologies for Exploring Derived Stimulus Relations |
| Sunday, May 29, 2005 |
| 9:00 AM–10:20 AM |
| Boulevard A (2nd floor) |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Yolanda Van Wijnen (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: The current symposium is concerned with developing methodologies for exploring derived stimulus relations with a particular focus on either social or applied implications. Paper 1 considers the effects of societal or cultural versus personal views as measured by the IAT and interpreted from a relation frame perspective. Papers 2 and 3 investigate attitudes to Autism using the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Specifically, paper 2 assessed the attitudes of parents of children with autism versus their attitudes towards their siblings while paper 3 compared the attitudes of parents of children with Autism and parents uninvolved with Autism. Finally, paper 4 investigated whether a stimulus function established for a single-element stimulus would transfer to related compound stimuli. Results are discussed in terms of substitutability as a kind of functional equivalence as well as in their applied meaning. |
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| The Implicit Association Test and Relational Frame Theory: A Behavioral Approach to Social Behaviour |
| GAIL G. CHAN (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Dermot Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Yvonne Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Ian T. Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway) |
| Abstract: The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was developed recently as a tool to study various forms of psychopathology including social anxiety, phobias, and depression in an attempt to assess the strength of associations between concepts. One area of particular interest is the effects of societal or cultural versus personal views. For example in certain Asian cultures dependence on your family is good and living with a boyfriend/girlfriend before marriage is bad. Personal views however, may differ. In an attempt to find a valid and salient measure of social beliefs, confounding variables such as societal influences must be analyzed. In essence, the critical component of analysis for the IAT may lie in the categories associated with the positive versus negative associations and possibly the instructional history of the individual (ex. exposure to different societal views). Ultimately, the goal is to provide insight into real-life behaviours. From an RFT perspective, societal or cultural scripts are sets of verbal relations that govern emotional reactions. It provides a framework for the experimental analysis of perceptual functions, thereby moving towards a behavioural account of how these cultural scripts work at the level of psychological processes. |
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| The Implicit Association Test as a Measure of Implicit Parental Attitudes Towards Their Children with Autism Versus Siblings |
| YOLANDA VAN WIJNEN (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Dermot Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Yvonne Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Ian T. Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway) |
| Abstract: The Implicit Association Test (IAT: Greenwald, Mcghee&Schwartz, 1998) is a simple experimental task used to measure the relative strength of associations between category-attribute pairs. The IAT has been applied in a variety of research domains such as shyness (Asendorf, Banse & Mucke 2002), attitudes towards race, homosexuality etc. (Banaji 2000:, Banse, Seise & Zerbes, 2001). This study assesses the attitudes of parents of children with autism versus their attitudes towards their siblings. The procedure consisted of two independent classification tasks performed in alternating order, where the participants were asked to distinguish between exemplars of two categories of “autism” and “normal”, using terms such as oblivious, aware, fatigue, etc. The task was completed twice, once when the first concept category was paired with positive attributes, and the second category with negative, and then the tasks reversed. The implications of the results for the experimental analysis of the verbal behavior of parents and siblings of children with a diagnosis of autism will be discussed. |
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| Measures of Attitudes to Autism using the IAT and IREP |
| REBECCA MILNE (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Dermot Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Yvonne Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Ian T. Stewart (National University of Ireland, Galway) |
| Abstract: This study investigates attitudes to Autism using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and an Implicit Relational Evaluative Procedure (IREP). The two experimental structures are compared across two populations – parents of children with Autism and parents uninvolved with Autism. The IAT is used to measure individual differences in the strength of associative links between representational structures such as attitudes. The IREP is used to assess the relative strengths of specific relational responses with respect to specific verbal stimuli. The results of the study indicate that both procedures may be useful in assessing verbal relations or associations that were established in the wider verbal community. The relative strengths and weaknesses of both procedures are discussed. |
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| Transfer of Contextual Control over Non-arbitrary Relations via Emergent Relations of Compound Stimuli |
| JOSÉ ORTEGA-PARDO (University of Almeria, Spain), Carmen Luciano Soriano (University of Almeria, Spain) |
| Abstract: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate whether a stimulus function established for a single-element stimulus would transfer to related compound stimuli. Previous data show that transfer of functions may be a result of establishing equivalence relations (Markham, Dougher and Augustson, 2002). In phase 1 of the study, participants were given non-arbitrary relational pretraining that brought their responses under the control of two unitary contextual stimuli, SMALLER-THAN (A1) and BIGGER_THAN (A2). In phase 2, they were taught nine ABC relations (A1B1-C1: A1B2-C3: A1B3-C2:A2B1-C3:, A2B2-C2: A2B3-C1: A3B1-C2: A3B2-C2 and A3B3-C3) and three C-D relations (C1-D1: C2-D2 and C3-D3). Once AB-C and C-D relations were established, Phase 3 tested for nine AC-B and nine BC-A relations. In addition, subjects were then tested for the emergence of nine AD-B and nine DB-A relations. In phase 4, in order to test for the transfer of functions to compound stimuli, subjects were shown the BC and BD compounds like contextual cues for relations of smaller-than (B1C1:B2C3:B1D1:B3D2 and B2D3) and bigger-than (B1C2:B3C1:B2C2;B1D3: B3D1 and B2D2), both on a new set of non-arbitrarily related stimuli and a set of arbitrarily related stimuli. Results are discussed in terms of substitutability as a kind of functional equivalence as well as in their applied meaning. |
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