Hughes, Sean and Barnes-Holmes, Dermot and Vahey, Nigel A.
(2012)
Holding on to our functional roots when exploring new intellectual islands:
A voyage through implicit cognition research.
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 1 (1-2).
pp. 17-38.
ISSN 2212-1447
Abstract
Throughout much of the past two decades, contextual behavioral science has been applied to a diverse
spectrum of psychological phenomena. This intellectual voyage into uncharted waters has brought with
it exciting new developments at the methodological and theoretical levels as well as increased contact
with other philosophical frameworks such as mechanism. This expansion into new territories requires
that the researcher carefully walk a tight-rope between different intellectual traditions
—
an activity
that is subject to several challenges and dangers. In the following paper we provide a detailed map on
how to navigate such pitfalls in the study of implicit cognition. We open with a comprehensive
overview of the core assumptions and analytic strategies upon which the cognitive (mechanistic) and
functional (contextual) traditions have been built. As we shall see, both traditions have sought to
understand, predict, and in some cases influence, behavior using radically different conceptual,
theoretical and methodological tools. The Relational Elaboration and Coherence (REC) model as well
as the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) are offered as examples of how researchers can
explore the domain of implicit cognition from a purely functional perspective. Finally, we examine the
possibility that although the cognitive and functional frameworks operate at two independent levels of
analysis each may be mutually informed by the work of the other, to the benefit of both
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Implicit cognition; Functional contextualism; IRAP; REC model; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology |
| Item ID: |
5036 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2012.09.003 |
| Depositing User: |
Prof. Dermot Barnes-Holmes
|
| Date Deposited: |
17 Jun 2014 15:19 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science |
| Publisher: |
Elsevier |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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