Rule-Governed Behavior: Cognition, Contingencies, and Instructional Control

by Steven C. Hayes

Overview

Animal learning and human learning traditions have been distinguishable within psychology since the start of the discipline and are to this day. The human learning wing was interested in the development of psychological functions in human organisms and proceeded directly to their examination. The animal learning wing was not distinguished by a corresponding interest in animal behavior per se. Rather, the animal learners studied animal behavior in order to identify principles of behavior of relevance to humans as well as other organisms. The two traditions, in other words, did not differ so much on goals as on strategies. It is not by accident that so many techniques of modem applied psychol­ ogy have emerged from the animal laboratory. That was one of the ultimate purposes of this work from the very beginning. The envisioned extension to humans was not just technological, however. Many animal researchers, B. F. Skinner most prominently among them, recognized that direct basic research with humans might ultimately be needed in certain areas but that it was wise first to build a strong foundation in the controlled environment of the animal laboratory. In a sense, animal learning was always in part a human research program in development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475704495
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	06/02/2012
Edition description:	1989
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. An author of forty-one books and more than 575 scientific articles, he has shown in his research how language and thought leads to human suffering, and has developed acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)—a powerful therapy method that is useful in a wide variety of areas.

Table of Contents

I. The Nature and Place of Behavioral Analyses of Rule-Governed Behavior.- 1. Rules and Rule-Governance: Cognitive and Behavioristic Views.- 2. The Behavior of the Listener.- 3. Rule-Governed Behavior in Behavior Analysis: A Theoretical and Experimental History.- 4. An Experimental Analysis of Rule-Governed Behavior.- II. The New Directions in the Analysis of Rule-Governed Behavior.- 5. The Verbal Action of the Listener as a Basis for Rule-Governance.- 6. Rule-Following.- 7. Correlated Hypothesizing and the Distinction between Contingency-Shaped and Rule-Governed Behavior.- 8. The Achievement of Evasive Goals: Control by Rules Describing Contingencies That Are Not Direct Acting.- III. Applied Implications of Rule-Governance.- 9. Some Clinical Implications of Rule-Governed Behavior.- 10. Avoiding and Altering Rule-Control as a Strategy of Clinical Intervention.