A relational frame skills training intervention to increase general intelligence and scholastic aptitude

Abstract

This study aimed to replicate and extend the pilot findings of Cassidy et al. (2011) which found that teaching children to derive various relations among stimuli leads to increases in the full scale IQ scores of both typically developing children and those with educational and learning difficulties. In Experiment 1, fifteen 11-12 year old children were exposed over several months to an intensive training intervention to improve their understanding of the relations Same, Opposite and More and Less. Significant increases in full scale IQ of around one standard deviation were recorded for each child. In Experiment 2, the same intervention was delivered to thirty 15-17 year old children. Significant increases in verbal and numerical reasoning were recorded for almost every child. These findings corroborate the idea that relational skills may underlie many forms of general cognitive ability.

The proxy-measurement of intelligence quotients using a relational skills abilities index

“…Relational Abilities Index (RAI). The Relational Abilities Index assessment used here was precisely as employed by Cassidy et al (2016) and was administered via the public website RaiseYourIQ. com.…”

“…The total number of correct responses produced within the 30 s response window across the 55 trials was taken as the metric of relational skill proficiency. For a full description on the composition and procedural details of the RAI, see Cassidy et al (2016).…”

“…Theoretical objections to hypothetical constructs (Skinner, 1974), a preference for functional (i.e., in terms of environment-behavior relationships) accounts, as well as an apparent difficulty in accounting for the generativity of language and cognition (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001), are often employed to support the argument that a behavioristic account of intelligence is not only difficult technically, but inappropriate conceptually. However, recent advances in a behavior-analytic account of language and cognition, known as Relational Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes et al, 2001; see also Dymond & Roche, 2013) have led to new insights into how we might conceive intellectual behavior in a non-mentalistic manner (e.g., Hayes, 1994;O'Hora, Pelaez, & Barnes-Holmes, 2005; O'Toole, Barnes-Holmes, Murphy, O'Connor, & Barnes-Holmes, 2009;Smith, Smith, Taylor, & Hobby, 2005) as well as the development of intervention protocols that have shown early promise in increasing intelligence quotients (Cassidy, Roche, Colbert, Stewart, & Grey, 2016;Cassidy, Roche, & Hayes, 2011;Dixon, Whiting, Rowsey, & Belisly, 2014;Moran, Stewart, McElwee, & Ming, 2010). As such, RFT-inspired measures are increasingly being looked upon within the behavior-analytic community as conceptually-sound proxies for IQ with acceptable construct validity.…”

“…RFT suggests that a relatively small variety of relational frames may yield the full array of cognitive skills, like deductive reasoning, problem solving, analogies and language (Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Roche, & Smeets, 2001;Cassidy et al, 2011Cassidy et al, , 2016Hayes & Stewart, 2016). As such, intelligence is not treated as something one "has", but rather as a generalized set of relational skills (i.e., applicable to any set of stimuli) that are learned, and that therefore could be improved.…”

Piloting a brief relational operant training program: analyses of response latencies and intelligence test performance

“…For example, in Cassidy, Roche, Colbert, Stewart, and Grey (2016), fifteen 11-12 year olds were given SMART training and the mean IQ (as measured using the WISC IV-UK) rose from 97 to 120. In the second experiment of Cassidy et al (2016), they administered the same intervention to 15-17 year old children (n = 30). This time, however, they were assessed using the Differential Aptitude Test, fifth edition (DAT 5).…”