Resumen de Rule-Governed Behavior and Psychologycal Problems

Niklas Törneke, María Carmen Luciano Soriano, Sonsoles Valdivia Salas

• The term rule-governed behavior (RGB) was first coined by Skinner (1966) to refer to behavior essential to complex human abilities. The traditional behavioral account of rulegoverned behavior presented some difficulties in describing how these abilities are formed and altered. With the advent of recent findings within the theoretical approach referred to as Relational Frame Theory (RFT), the former difficulties are at present being overcome.

  RFT is providing a comprehensive understanding of behavioral problems as found in diverse psychopathologies. The present paper addresses first the basic assumptions of RFT in relation to rule-following. Then, the three types of RGB, pliance, tracking and augmenting are presented. Finally, we describe the problems that can emerge from the different types of RGB, with a special emphasis on the role of ineffective augmenting as the basis of those psychological problems characterized by the occurrence of deliberate efforts to avoid certain thoughts, feelings and the like as the primary coping strategy to live which, in turn, produces paradoxical effects.