Yvonne Barnes-Holmes

Al intentar describir y explicar el desarrollo humano, los psicólogos conductuales suelen argumentar que las constancias que se observan en el desarrollo son el producto de contingencias ambientales relativamente estables, que dan lugar a conductas cada vez más complejas (Gewirtz y Peláez-Nogueras, 1992). Sugieren que los cambios en la conducta están causados, en gran medida, por cambios en las contingencias ambientales y en las características del contexto actual en el que se sitúa una conducta determinada. Consideran que las contingencias interactúan con la historia del individuo (p.ej., los repertorios de conducta que ya se han establecido) en lo relativo, tanto al cambio en la conducta, como a las constancias del desarrollo (véase Rosales-Ruiz y Baer, 1996, para una exposición más completa de esta distinción)....

En el capítulo anterior presentamos una muestra de análisis que se han realizado desde TMR sobre el campo de la psicología del desarrollo. La comprensión de los procesos del desarrollo, debería de tener importantes implicaciones sobre el ámbito de la educación. La educación es un tema muy amplio, tanto dentro como fuera de la psicología, por lo que, para empezar, consideraremos brevemente el contexto más amplio de la educación antes de examinar cómo la TMR podría contribuir a este ámbito...

Research has shown that the attitudes of teachers towards pupils can influence their academic and social behaviour. In the context of special education needs (SEN), the same processes likely apply, and there is evidence that teachers’ attitudes influence the success of inclusive initiatives. While the literature on attitudes to pupils with SEN is limited, there is also a heavy reliance on self-reported methodologies that are susceptible to presentation bias. Across two studies, the current research employed the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to measure the implicit attitudes of teachers in training (N = 20), primary school teachers (N = 20), and post-primary teachers (N = 20) and a group of controls (N = 20) towards pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD), versus the implicit attitudes of primary school teachers (N = 20) and post-primary teachers (N = 20) towards typically-developing pupils. Results indicated that teachers possessed greater negative implicit and explicit attitudes towards pupils with EBD, when compared to typically-developing pupils.

In the current article, we review existing models of the etiology of voice hearing. We summarize the argument and evidence that voice hearing is primarily a dissociative process involving critical aspects of self. We propose a complementary perspective on these phenomena that is based on a modern behavioral account of complex behavior known as relational frame theory. This type of approach to voice hearing concerns itself with the functions served for the individual by this voice hearing; the necessary history, such as trauma, that establishes these functions; and the relevant dissociative processes involving self and others. In short, we propose a trauma–dissociation developmental trajectory in which trauma impacts negatively on the development of self through the process of dissociation. Using the relational frame theory concept of relations of perspective taking, our dissociation model purports that trauma gives rise to more coordination than distinction relations between self and others, thus weakening an individual’s sense of a distinct self. Voice hearing experiences, therefore, reflect an individual’s perceptions of self and others and may indicate impairments in the natural psychological boundaries between these critical related concepts. One clinical implication suggested by this model is that therapeutic intervention should understand the behaviors associated with a sense of self that is fragile and threatened by others. Relations with self and others should be a key focus of therapy as well as interventions designed to enhance a coherent distinct sense of self.