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Background: Previous research found that pre-teenage ability to derive arbitrary "same," "opposite," "more," and "less" relations correlated with measured intelligence quotient (IQ) and that training this "derived relational responding" (DRR) skill produced substantial IQ rises. Aims: This study extended previous work by comparing the effects of DRR training (using strengthening mental abilities with relational training [SMART], an automated online training protocol) with the effects of a similar quantity of training in "Scratch" computer coding. Sample: Twenty-eight children (13 girls) aged 10-11 (M = 10.34) participated, all members of the same class in a primary school in Co. Limerick, Ireland. Methods: Participants were tested before and after training for DRR ability as well as on standardized tests of IQ and academic attainment. Training time was limited to 29 hrs over two academic semesters in twice-weekly 1-hr instalments. Results: Significant improvements were seen in measures of overall intellectual performance; in digit span and letter/number sequencing; and in academic attainment, including spelling, reading, and numerical operations, in the SMART/DRR group alone, and there was significantly more improvement on these measures in the SMART/DRR group than in the Scratch group. Conclusions: These findings extend the evidence that training DRR can produce improvements in intellectual and academic ability.

The current research comprised two experiments that employed the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) as a measure of implicit racial attitudes. White Irish participants were exposed to blocks of trials that involved responding in a manner consistent with either a pro-white stereotype or a pro-black stereotype. In Experiment 1, participants completed the IRAP in either a public or private assessment situation. It was hypothesized that implicit pro-white stereotyping would decrease in the public context relative to the private context. The results, however, were not in accordance with this prediction. A second experiment was conducted to determine if requiring participants to respond in a public context but within a shorter timeframe would impact significantly upon implicit stereotyping. The results showed that a reduction in response latency significantly increased in group stereotyping. The findings appear to be consistent with the relational elaboration and coherence model. (Contains 3 figures and 8 footnotes.)

The current study aimed to assess the implicit attitudes of vegetarians and non-vegetarians towards meat and vegetables, using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Both measures involved asking participants to respond, under time pressure, to pictures of meat or vegetables as either positive or negative stimuli. Response latency data gathered from both the IAT and the IRAP discriminated at a statistically significant level between vegetarians and meat-eaters. Furthermore, both measures correlated with some features of the explicit self-report measure that was employed in the study. The implicit measures also provided similarly small but statistically significant increases in predictive validity over the explicit measures. (Contains 4 figures, 3 tables and 1 footnote.)

The current study aimed to test the validity of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), as compared to the Implicit Association Test (IAT), by assessing the attitudes of Dublin dwellers and rural dwellers toward Dublin and country life. Discrimination between the two groups for the IAT was marginally significant. The IRAP discriminated significantly between the two groups based on an interaction effect, which showed that rural dwellers had a strong bias toward country life but Dublin dwellers did not show the same bias toward Dublin life. The IRAP data correlated moderately with the explicit measures, but the IAT did not. The findings support the IRAP as a potentially useful measure of implicit attitudes. (Contains 2 tables, 3 figures and 3 footnotes.)

The study examined the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure's (IRAP) validity as a computerized response-latency-based measure of implicit self-esteem. University undergraduates and 2 sets of convicted prisoners participated. One set of prisoners resided in the main block, and the other in a privileged lower security "open area" of a medium-security Irish prison. The IRAP required participants to maintain relational responses that were self-positive on half of the IRAP trials ("Consistent"), and self-negative on the other half ("Inconsistent"). As predicted, the students and the prisoners in the open area showed stronger IRAP effects (shorter latencies during consistent vs. inconsistent trials) than the main block prisoners. Additionally, the IRAP's convergent validity was supported by its moderate positive correlation with an explicit self-esteem measure. The findings provide preliminary support for the analytic utility of the IRAP and suggest future avenues of investigation afforded by the IRAP's design. (Contains 2 figures, 1 table and 7 footnotes.)

The current study examined the malleability of implicit attitudes using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). In Experiment 1, "similar" and "opposite" were presented as response options with the sample terms "old people" and "young people" and various positive and negative target stimuli. Results showed significantly faster response latencies for consistent (e.g., Similar-Positive-Young People) compared to inconsistent tasks (e.g., Similar-Positive-Old People). Explicit measures did not correlate with this IRAP effect. Experiment 2 determined whether prior exposure to pictures of admired and disliked old and young individuals had an impact on IRAP performance. Results revealed that pro-old exemplars reduced the pro-young IRAP effect, but reversed the anti-old effect, and this held for 24 h; explicit measures were largely unaffected. The findings suggest that the IRAP provides an informative measure of attitude-change following pro- versus anti-exemplar training. (Contains 4 figures, 4 tables and 5 footnotes.)

The current work reports 2 experiments that investigate the development of false belief from the perspective of Relational Frame Theory. The true and false belief test protocol used across both experiments contained a range of tasks that involved responding in accordance with the 3 perspective-taking frames of I-YOU, HERE-THERE, NOW-THEN, and in accordance with logical NOT. Experiment 1 involved the presentation of a protocol containing 10 true/false tasks to participants of 5 age groups ranging from 3 to 30 years old. Experiment 2 was identical to Experiment 1, except that the number of tasks presented in the protocol was increased to 60 and novel participants were employed. The results of both experiments indicated a developmental trend in which accuracy on the protocol appeared to increase as a function of age. Furthermore, the fact that neither study indicated a statistically significant effect for trial type suggested that responding to both true and false belief may involve overlapping behavioral processes. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for Relational Frame Theory, behavior analysis, and the mainstream developmental literature on understanding true and false belief. (Contains 2 tables and 8 figures.)

Derived equivalence relations, it has been argued, provide a behavioral model of semantic or symbolic meaning in natural language, and thus equivalence relations should possess properties that are typically associated with semantic relations. The present study sought to test this basic postulate using semantic priming. Across three experiments, participants were trained and tested in two 4-member equivalence relations using word-like nonsense words. Participants also were exposed to a single- or two-word lexical decision task, and both direct (Experiment 1) and mediated (Experiments 2 and 3) priming effects for reaction times and event-related potentials were observed within but not across equivalence relations. The findings support the argument that derived equivalence relations provides a useful preliminary model of semantic relations. (Contains 9 tables and 1 figure.)

The current study aimed to test a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) model of analogical reasoning based on the relating of derived same and derived difference relations. Experiment 1 recorded reaction time measures of similar-similar (e.g., "apple is to orange as dog is to cat") versus different-different (e.g., "he is to his brother as chalk is to cheese") derived relational responding, in both speed-contingent and speed-noncontingent conditions. Experiment 2 examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with these two response patterns. Both experiments showed similar-similar responding to be significantly faster than different-different responding. Experiment 2 revealed significant differences between the waveforms of the two response patterns in the left-hemispheric prefrontal regions; different-different waveforms were significantly more negative than similar-similar waveforms. The behavioral and neurophysiological data support the RFT prediction that, all things being equal, similar-similar responding is relationally "simpler" than, and functionally distinct from, different-different analogical responding. The ERP data were fully consistent with findings in the neurocognitive literature on analogy. These findings strengthen the validity of the RFT model of analogical reasoning and supplement the behavior-analytic approach to analogy based on the relating of derived relations. (Contains 6 figures and 2 tables.)

The fin de siècle witnessed radical shifts in the intellectual and cultural landscapes of the British Isles in the context of a general revolt against Victorian values. E. E. Fournier d'Albe - physicist, spiritualist, inventor and Pan-Celticist - personified the ability of intellectuals to latch onto and advance new trends, made available by the emergent intellectual pluralism. Like many contemporaries he rejected traditional religion, but he also disdained scientific materialism, and sought a deeper metaphysical meaning to life, pursued through his various interests. Influenced by the totalising theories of figures like Herbert Spencer and Ernst Haeckel, Fournier concocted his own brand of scientific monism, rejecting materialism, embracing spiritualism, and ever optimistic in the notion of scientific progress, even in the wake of the carnage of the Great War. The article aims to give Fournier a fuller historical treatment, allowing his story to add to understanding of the milieus in which he lived and operated, and revealing how his monistic philosophy incorporated some of the disparate cultural strands explored by intellectuals in the fin de siècle reaction against conventional Victorian ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]