Relational frame theory: A new paradigm for the analysis of social behavior

Recent developments in the analysis of derived relational responding, under the rubric of relational frame theory, have brought several complex language and cognitive phenomena within the empirical reach of the experimental analysis of behavior. The current paper provides an outline of relational frame theory as a new approach to the analysis of language, cognition, and complex behavior more generally. Relational frame theory, it is argued, also provides a suitable paradigm for the analysis of a wide variety of social behavior that is mediated by language. Recent empirical evidence and theoretical interpretations are provided in support of the relational frame approach to social behavior