Ian Stewart

A Sketch of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and the Relational Elaboration and Coherence (REC) Model

The current article outlines a behavior-analytic approach to the study of so-called implicit attitudes and cognition. The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), the conceptual basis of which was derived from relational frame theory, is offered as a methodology that may be used in the experimental analysis of implicit attitudes and beliefs. The relational elaboration and coherence (REC) model provides a possible relational-frame account of the findings that have emerged from the IRAP. The article first outlines the research history that led to the development of the IRAP, followed by a description of the method. The REC model and how it explains a range of IRAP data are then considered. The article also outlines how both the IRAP and the REC model overlap with, and differ from, similar research found in the non-behavior-analytic literature.

Validation of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) in an Internet sample and development and preliminary validation of the CPAQ-8

&NA; This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) in a mixed chronic pain, Internet sample and sought to develop a valid and reliable short form. Questionnaires were completed by 428 respondents, comprising a sample accessed via the Internet (n = 319) and a sample who completed a paper and pencil version of the measures (n = 109). Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) the two‐factor structure of the CPAQ in the Internet sample was supported, though a good model fit was only achieved following the removal of one item. The resultant 19 item CPAQ demonstrated good reliability and evidence of validity was obtained for this sample. Data from the Internet sample were used to derive an eight‐item short form. The two four‐item factors (activity engagement [AE] and pain willingness [PW]) were confirmed using CFA and found to be invariant across both samples with good scale reliability. Higher CPAQ‐8 and subscale scores were correlated with less depression and anxiety, pain severity and pain interference, and fewer medical visits for pain. Using structural equation modelling both subscales were found to partially mediate the impact of pain severity on pain interference and emotional distress. In this model AE had stronger associations with outcomes while PW accounted for a small portion of the variance in pain interference and anxiety, but not depression. This study confirmed the two‐factor structure of the CPAQ in a mixed chronic pain Internet sample and provides preliminary evidence for the psychometric soundness of the CPAQ‐8.

Using The impliciT AssociATion TesT And The impliciT RelATionAl AssessmenT pRocedURe To meAsURe ATTiTUdes TowARd meAT And VegeTAbles in VegeTARiAns And meAT-eATeRs

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.

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure: Exploring the Impact of Private versus Public Contexts and the Response Latency Criterion on Pro-White and Anti-Black Stereotyping among White Irish Individuals.

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 ingroup stereotyping. The findings appear to be consistent with the relational elaboration and coherence model.

A First Test of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure as a Measure of Self-Esteem: Irish Prisoner Groups and University Students.

The study examined the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure’s (IRAP) validity as a computerized response-latency-based measure of implicit selfesteem. 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.

Anti-fat, pro-slim, or both?: Using two reaction-time based measures to assess implicit attitudes to the slim and overweight

Two measures of implicit attitudes, the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and the Implicit Association Test (IAT), were compared with each other and with a measure of explicit attitudes in the assessment of implicit pro-slim/anti-fat bias. Results from both implicit tests indicated higher levels of bias than revealed by the explicit measure. The IRAP data suggested that it was participants’ pro-slim rather than anti-fat bias, which was driving this effect. Explicit attitudes and feelings towards the overweight were significant predictors of behavioural intentions towards the overweight with the IRAP offering a greater contribution to predictive validity than the IAT.

TesTing The ValidiTy of The impliciT RelaTional assessmenT pRoceduRe and The impliciT associaTion TesT: measuRing aTTiTudes TowaRd dublin and counTRy life in iReland

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.

A functional-analytic model of analogy using the Relational Evaluation Procedure

Analogical reasoning is conceptualized by Relational Frame Theory as responding in accordance with an equivalence relation between equivalence or other types of derived stimulus relations. The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical demonstration of analogy using the Relational Evaluation Procedure (REP), a recently developed technique for the rapid training and testing of derived stimulus relations. The experiment involved 9 stages in which 5 adult male subjects were exposed to a complex series of REP training and testing protocols, by the end of which they each readily demonstrated 24 completely novel instances of responding in accordance with analogical relations as conceptualized by RFT. The implications of these results for future functional analytic investigations of analogical reasoning are discussed.

THE IMPLICIT RELATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE (IRAP) AS A RESPONSE-TIME AND EVENT-RELATED-POTENTIALS METHODOLOGY FOR TESTING NATURAL VERBAL RELATIONS: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

The current article reports the first attempt to test the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), as a group-based measure of natural verbal relations, using both response-latency and event-related potentials as dependent variables. On each trial of the IRAP, participants were presented with 1 of 2 attribute stimuli (“Pleasant” or “Unpleasant”), a positive (e.g., “Love”) or negative (e.g., “Murder”) target stimulus, and 2 relational terms, “Similar” and “Opposite,” as response options. Participants were required to respond as quickly and accurately as possible across blocks of trials, with half of the blocks requiring responses that were deemed consistent (e.g., Pleasant–Love–Similar), and the other half inconsistent (e.g., Pleasant–Love–Opposite), with natural verbal relations. Shorter mean latencies were predicted for consistent than for inconsistent blocks. Two separate experiments supported this prediction. Event-related potentials, gathered during the second experiment, also proved to be sensitive to the IRAP, yielding more negative waveforms for inconsistent relative to consistent blocks of trials. A theoretical interpretation of the IRAP effect is offered, and important directions for future research are highlighted.

The ImplIcIT RelaTIonal assessmenT pRoceduRe (IRap) as a measuRe of ImplIcIT RelaTIve pRefeRences: a fIRsT sTudy

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) was designed to examine implicit beliefs or attitudes. In Experiment 1, response latencies obtained from Irish participants on the IRAP showed a strong preference for Irish over Scottish and American over African. In contrast, responses to explicit Likert measures diverged from the IRAP performance in indicating Irish equally likeable to Scottish and African more likeable than American. Using a similar IRAP, Experiment 2 showed that participants from the United States showed strong implicit preferences for American over Irish, Irish over Scottish, and Scottish over African; the explicit Likert measures again diverged from the IRAP. The findings provide preliminary support for the IRAP as a useful measure of implicit beliefs.