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Within the framework of psychological flexibility, self-concealment is a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy that functions to attenuate negative thoughts and feelings. While research in this area has linked self-concealment to poor physical and psychological health, the antecedents of concealment behavior remain poorly understood. Using a cross-sectional design, this study tested whether negative automatic thoughts mediated the relationship between psychological maltreatment in childhood and self-concealment. It was hypothesized that psychological maltreatment would predict more negative automatic thoughts, which in turn would predict more self-concealment. Results showed psychological maltreatment was positively associated with negative automatic thoughts. Moreover, negative automatic thoughts were positively correlated with self-concealment, indicating that negative automatic thoughts statistically mediated the relationship between psychological maltreatment and self-concealment. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting negative automatic thoughts may explain the relationship between psychological maltreatment and self-concealment.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has been explicitly grounded in particular philosophical and theoretical perspectives since its development. At a macro level, these foundations not only contextualize current iterations of ACT (i.e., explaining why ACT is the way that it is), but also guide adaptations and continued refinement of ACT (i.e., to shape how ACT is continually evolving). However, there are also important implications for moment-to-moment implementation of ACT. This article provides a brief review of early foundations with explicit implications for ACT implementation, including both contextualism and its relationship with other world views, and behavior analysis as grounded in both radical behaviorism and interbehavioral psychology. Modern contextual behavioral science (CBS) is described in detail as behavior analysis with functional contextual underpinnings. Also described are the philosophical assumptions that characterize this perspective, along with the implications of these assumptions for ACT therapists. This article seeks to support ACT therapists in implementing ACT with intention and effectiveness.

Tarbox et al. (2020) offered preliminary functional analyses and practical guidelines for incorporating acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) within the scope of practice of applied behavior analysis (ABA). Although we agree that this is a needed goal, the approach taken by the authors gives rise to important conceptual, ethical, and practical concerns that warrant further discussion. In particular, we propose that explicit functional assessment of behavior (FA) is necessary in any intervention said to be ABA, and we wonder about the apparent omission of explicit FA throughout the article. We question what we read as the authors' tacit assertion that the functions of verbal stimuli can be inferred based on behavioral topography, that the function of verbal behavior can likewise be inferred based on form, and that behavior-behavior relations are both causal and predictive of behavior, irrespective of context. Furthermore, we consider whether a number of procedures for functional assessment presented in the article under consideration are consistent with established ABA best practices. Finally, we discuss the extent to which ACT interventions absent explicit FA in ABA interventions introduces the possibility that the interventions may do harm, arguing that further discussion around competence and scope of ethical practice for behavior analysts who wish to incorporate ACT into their work is needed.

Values-affirmation interventions have demonstrated efficacy in increasing approach behavior in the context of\ud potential threat. In other words, writing about values seems associated with changes to the functions of previously aversive events. Evaluative conditioning and derived relational responding have been offered as possible\ud mechanisms by which values interventions change behavior. The current study aimed to extend the extant\ud literature by demonstrating derived relational responding and subsequent transformation of evaluative and\ud consequential functions with values-relevant stimuli. Participants were 34 undergraduate students. Participants\ud generated personally meaningful values-relevant stimuli after engaging in a values-affirmation task and were\ud subsequently trained through matching to sample to coordinate a subset of those stimuli to arbitrary stimuli. All\ud participants exhibited mutual entailment, and all but one exhibited combinatorial entailment, suggesting that\ud individuals learn to coordinate events with values quite readily. Further, there was evidence of transformation of\ud functions, both in terms of changes in ratings of derived stimuli and in terms of changes in approach and escape\ud behavior. These data are offered in support of continued scientific exploration of what values are, how they\ud emerge, and how they are best intervened upon.

Throughout its history the strategy and tactics of contextual behavioral science (CBS) research have had distinctive features as compared to traditional behavioral science approaches. Continued progress in CBS research can be facilitated by greater clarity about how its strategy and tactics can be brought to bear on current challenges. The present white paper is the result of a 2 1/2-year long process designed to foster consensus among representative producers and consumers of CBS research about the best strategic pathway forward. The Task Force agreed that CBS research should be multilevel, process-based, multidimensional, prosocial, and pragmatic, and provided 33 recommendations to the CBS community arranged across these characteristics. In effect, this report provides a detailed research agenda designed to maximize the impact of CBS as a field. Scientists and practitioners are encouraged to mount this ambitious agenda.

Relational Frame Theory (RFT), a contemporary behavioral account of language and cognition, has been offered as an explanatory model of the development and maintenance of body image disturbance. RFT proposes derived relational responding (DRR) as a process through which the functions of a stimulus are transformed consistent with its relation with other stimuli (and absent direct learning contingencies. Conceptual work has assumed DRR to be central to the development and treatment of body image disturbance. This study offers the first empirical investigation of DRR with body-image stimuli, and untrained approach-and-escape functions. Participants readily demonstrated mutual and combinatorial entailment with stimuli they generated to represent their own body image, along with images fatter and thinner than themselves. Participants also readily demonstrated transformation of untrained approach-and-escape functions consistent with that of thinner and fatter body images. These findings provide a preliminary demonstration of DRR in the context of body image disturbance and support further research applying RFT in this area.

The wider societal attitudes held towards mothers’ breastfeeding in public seem to impact infant feeding choices. The present study employed an online (N = 396) experimental pre-test post-test design set to examine whether a mere exposure effect of briefly viewing and rating the valence of four different images of public breastfeeding (i.e., mother and baby alone, females in background, males in background, and females and males in background) would impact on participants’ attitudes towards a mother breastfeeding in public. There was a marginal increase in the positive attitudes towards public breastfeeding at Time 2 when compared with Time 1 following exposure to the four images. These findings support a potential positive mere exposure effect in enhancing attitudes towards breastfeeding in public. This suggests a greater use of promotional material using visual stimuli may improve societal acceptance of breastfeeding in public.

An analysis of publication trends related to author sex was conducted on all articles published within the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (JCBS) between 2012 and 2017. This was in response to calls within the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) for an examination of its commitment to and progress in advancing inclusion and diversity. Results indicated that there was near parity in the overall numbers of male and female authors, with approximately equal numbers of male and female first authors. However, a significant difference was observed among corresponding authors, with males more likely to fulfil this role. Male authors also produced more single author articles. Furthermore, male authored articles received significantly more citations than female authored articles, though time of publication could be a confounding factor. Areas where further progress could be made are highlighted. This paper closes a key informational gap for Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS) by providing quantitative data on sex-specific publication trends within the JCBS. The results of this study may aid further empirical investigation into the possible factors underlying these sex gaps and potential barriers to publication for authors within the ACBS.

Coping with food cravings is crucial for weight management. Individuals tend to use avoidance strategies to resist food cravings and prevent overeating, but such strategies may not result in the benefits sought. This study compared the effects of two cognitive techniques (Restructuring vs. Defusion) for dealing with food cravings in terms of their impact on healthy vs. unhealthy eating behavior (i.e., consumption of chocolate and/or carrots following the intervention). Sixty-five participants (Mage = 19.65 years) received either a 30-minute face-to-face instruction on cognitive restructuring (CR) or cognitive defusion (CD) along with 15 min of practice, or 45 min of obesity education and discussion (control). To examine craving and eating choices following the intervention, participants received bags of chocolate and carrots and were asked to carry these with them at all times over the next week, exchanging the bags every 2 days. Participants in the CD group ate fewer chocolates (M = 11.74) compared to CR (M = 17.06) and Control groups (M = 29.18) during the experimental week. The groups did not differ in number of carrot pieces eaten, though the CD group ate more carrots than chocolates. CD resulted in fewer self-reported cravings compared to CR and CO groups. At a final taste test, both CD and CR groups ate significantly fewer chocolates compared to the CO group. CD appears to be an effective technique in managing food craving and to present some advantages over CR.

As part of a growing movement to emphasize the positive aspects of body image, an increasing amount of research has been devoted to the study of body image flexibility. By definition, this process-oriented construct encompasses the ability to embrace a present-moment experience of potentially distressing emotions and cognitions related to the body, particularly when doing so allows for pursuit of life values. This chapter briefly reviews the relevant literature pertaining to body image flexibility, including its conceptual roots, measurement, correlates, role in moderation and mediation analyses, and related intervention research. Despite limitations, the extant literature base suggests that this construct is both a unique and an important concept to consider; moreover, it holds promise for informing future efforts to better understand and improve this type of adaptive response to the body. Future directions for research, such as the development of more process-oriented assessment and examination utilizing experimental methods, are highlighted.

Despite efforts to improve university retention, many low-income students are leaving college without a degree. The current study evaluated the preliminary effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Training for low-income students at risk for academic failure. In general, participants exhibited improved academic performance the following semester, which was predicted from valued living. Fifty-seven percent of participants graduated within six years, surpassing the graduation rate of a comparison group and exceeding national graduation rates.

Statistics coursework presents a significant challenge for college students, often associated with anxiety, which further inhibits performance. Applied to statistics anxiety and performance, the psychological flexibility model suggests that statistics anxiety may not inhibit performance when it is approached willingly in service of important values. The current study offered a preliminary consideration of statistics-related willingness and importance as moderators of the relationship between statistics anxiety and performance. Undergraduate students completed a measure of statistics anxiety, willingness to engage statistics, and the importance attributed to statistics engagement, then took a short statistics quiz. Results provided preliminary evidence that both willingness and importance moderate the relationship between statistics anxiety and performance on a statistics quiz.

Statistics courses offer a challenge for students in behavioral science programs. Many students experience statistics-related anxiety resulting in deficits in comprehension and performance with potential long-term consequences. This may be attributable to the avoidance that often accompanies statistics anxiety. However, it may also be attributable to disruptions of fundamental learning processes that are necessary for statistics performance. Relational frame theory may provide an analysis of how individuals learn to respond to statistical concepts in terms of derived relational responding (DRR). Students who experience statistics anxiety may perform poorly because the DRR involved in learning statistics is disrupted. This study aimed to model statistics learning using a DRR task and to explore the relationship of statistics anxiety and DRR with statistics stimuli. Twenty-seven undergraduate students completed a measure of statistics anxiety and a conditional discrimination task in which they learn...

Models of eating disorder development point to the significant role body image avoidance plays in the development and perpetuation of eating disorder pathology (EDP), highlighting the importance of continued conceptual development. For example, approaches to assessing and conceptualizing body image avoidance vary in the extent to which they emphasize topography (i.e., common forms of avoidance), or their function (i.e., the conditions under which they occur). This study considered four body image avoidance constructs and their relative incremental contribution to predicting concurrent EDP in a college student population (N = 1228). Participants self-reported both the form and function of body image avoidance, including specific behaviors, appearance fixing and avoidant coping, and body image flexibility. A measure of the form of body image avoidance emerged as the best predictor of EDP, both in terms of consistently predicting aspects of disordered eating and in terms of accounting for the largest proportions of unique variance. Body image flexibility also contributed significantly to the prediction of cognitive and emotional aspects of concurrent EDP above and beyond self-report of common forms of avoidance only. Both form and function may be important when assessing and intervening on body image avoidance to prevent EDP.

Emerging research supports the psychological benefits of articulating one’s values. Basic behavioral research on values, however, has been limited. To support continued progress in the basic research on values, it might be necessary to adapt values interventions for efficiently and effectively selecting values-relevant stimuli. This study aimed to evaluate four methods for selecting values-relevant stimuli by comparing within-subject ratings of the extent to which stimuli were meaningful, strongly evocative, and reminiscent of something important to them. Thirty-six college student participants performed four tasks for selecting values-relevant stimuli: (1) selection of words from a values lexicon, (2) exposure to a list of valued domains followed by word generation, (3) selection of pictures representing commonly valued domains, and (4) values writing followed by word selection from the writing sample. The values writing and selection task produced stimuli that were rated the most meaningful, most evocative and most reminiscent of something important.

Postdeployment reintegration may present an exceptional challenge to service members and their families; yet, overcoming this challenge seems to strengthen family relationships through a shared sense of purpose. Navigating family reintegration may be an important determinant of long-term psychological well-being. If the needs of military families are to be answered effectively, it is of critical importance to identify the skills that facilitate positive reintegration following deployment. This article proposes psychological flexibility as a group of interrelated skills that could be directly intervened on to facilitate not only resilience but also positive growth and development. This paper focuses on the conceptualization of family reintegration in terms of psychological flexibility, including common deficits observed in this population and potential goals of treatment. Video Abstract.

Acceptance and mindfulness components are increasingly incorporated into treatment for eating disorders with promising results. The development of measures of proposed change processes would facilitate ongoing scientific progress. The current series of studies evaluated one such instrument, the Body Image-Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (BI-AAQ), which was designed to measure body image flexibility. Study one focused on the generation and reduction of items for the BI-AAQ and a demonstration of construct validity. Body image flexibility was associated with increased psychological flexibility, decreased body image dissatisfaction, and less disordered eating. Study two demonstrated adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability of BI-AAQ. Study three extended findings related to structural and construct validity, and demonstrated an indirect effect of body image dissatisfaction on disordered eating via body image flexibility. Research and clinical utility of the BI-AAQ are discussed. The BI-AAQ is proposed as a measure of body image flexibility, a potential change process in acceptance-oriented treatments of eating disorders.

A number of cognitive-behavior therapies now strongly emphasize particular behavioral processes as mediators of clinical change specific to that therapy. This shift in emphasis calls for the development of measures sensitive to changes in the therapies’ processes. Among these is acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which posits valued living as one of its primary core processes. This article offers a definition of values from a behavioral perspective and describes the Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ) as a first attempt at assessment of valued living. The VLQ is a relatively brief and easily administered instrument derived directly from the primary text on ACT. Initial psychometric support for the VLQ suggests that valued living can be measured, even with the most simple of instruments, in such a way as to consider it a possible mechanism of change in ACT and related approaches.

Handling food cravings seems to play a major role in weight management. Many try to simply avoid cravings. However, avoidance based techniques like thought suppression can make attempts to deal with cravings more difficult. Recent research suggests that acceptance based techniques, such as defusion, may be a plausible alternative. The current study aimed to compare these two techniques. Participants were instructed in either a thought suppression or defusion technique at the beginning of a week-long period of attempted chocolate abstinence. A control group was given no instruction. It was predicted that the participants given the defusion intervention would eat less chocolate during six days and during a final taste test. It was found that participants in the defusion group ate significantly less chocolate during the taste test than other groups. However, no difference was found in the amount of chocolate eaten throughout the duration of the experiment. The results are discussed in terms of the possible utility of acceptance based techniques in promoting weight management.

Body image disturbance and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) have been researched from a variety of psychological approaches. Psychological inflexibility, or avoidance of one's own cognitive and affective states at a cost to personal values, may be a useful construct to understand these problems. In an effort to clarify the role of psychological inflexibility in body image disturbance and BDD, a measure was created based on the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The scale was developed by generating new items to represent the construct and revising items from an existing scale measuring aspects of body image psychological inflexibility. The study was conducted with an ethnically diverse undergraduate population using three samples during the validation process. Participants completed multiple assessments to determine the validity of the measure and were interviewed for BDD. The 16-item scale has internal consistency (α = 0.93), a single factor solution, convergent validity, and test re-test reliability (r = 0.90). Data demonstrate a relationship between psychological inflexibility and body image disturbance indicating empirical support for an ACT conceptualization of body image problems and the use of this measure for body image disturbance and BDD.

The task of achieving competent artificial natural language systems is enormous. Advances in hardware and the structural analysis of verbalizations have outpaced theories of language and cognition. Functional contextualism, a behavioral approach in psychology, has seen the rise of relational frame theory, which offers an alternative conceptualization of language and cognition. This theory is based upon the notion of arbitrarily-applicable relational responding - defined by the properties of mutual entailment, combinatorial entailment and transformation of stimulus function. Empirical demonstrations of linguistic phenomena are described with practical examples. It is suggested that consideration of functional contextualism and relational frame theory may offer advantages to those working in the area of natural language processing.