Toward a Functional Analysis of Delusional Speech and Hallucinatory Behavior

Abstract

An approach to a functional analysis of delusional speech and hallucinatory behavior is described and discussed using concepts found in Goldiamond's (1975a and 1984) nonlinear contingency analysis and Skinner's Verbal Behavior (1957). This synthesis draws upon and concords with research from the animal laboratory, with the extensive experimental literatures on stimulus control and signal detection theory, and with our own clinical experiences.In this formulation, delusional speech and hallucinatory behavior are viewed as successful operants. Accordingly, we argue that such behaviors can be considered adaptive and rational, rather than maladaptive and irrational, when analyzed within a model of consequential governance that includes alternative sets of contingencies. Several clinical examples are offered to illustrate both analytic procedures and the design of systemic treatment programs based upon a behavioral contingency analysis derived from a natural science of behavior. Throughout, we emphasize the consequential governance of these clinically important classes of behavior, in contrast to other approaches which suggest formal similarities to operant verbal behavior but largely ignore the role of consequential contingencies.

Comportamento Individual, Cultura E Mudança Social

“…Em uma situação demandando uma camisa passada a ferro, variações das três respostas podem ocorrer em uma nova sequência, resultando em uma camisa passada. Essa junção de respostas de linhagens operantes aprendidas em diferentes momentos tem sido denominada de adução de contingência (Layng & Andronis, 1984 …”

Emotions and Emotional Behavior: A Constructional Approach To

“…Whereas the first treatment of emotion shares characteristics with some of the more essentialist theories, the roles these private events play are considered here to be tightly woven into the consequential contingencies of which the behavior is a function. This treatment can be extended to include the analysis of complex social and societal emotions as "descriptors" of intricate nonlinear, or alternative sets, of contingencies and satellite variables that are often social in nature (Gimenes, Layng, & Andronis, 2003;Goldiamond, 1975bGoldiamond, , 1976Goldiamond, , 1979bGoldiamond, , 1984Layng, 1995Layng, , 2003Layng & Andronis, 1984;Layng & Robbins 2002). Such nonlinear analyses often obviate the need to resort to two factor accounts as well.…”

“…If it were simply a matter of certain emotions describing certain contingencies or alternative sets of contingencies (Layng & Andronis, 1984;Goldiamond, 1975bGoldiamond, , 1984 our task of understanding emotions would be greatly simplified. Unfortunately, emotions, even basic ones, do not typically remain private.…”

“…But once public, the emotional indicators may become candidates for selection by a contingency relation that may be quite different than the contingency the originating "felt" emotion describes. The contingent environment may adduce (after Andronis, Layng, & Goldiamond, 1997;Layng & Andronis, 1984) entirely new repertoires from those whose initial function was described by a totally different contingency. The emotional indicators and perhaps the emotions to which they are linked may take on a new function quite different from the original.…”

“…Considering the behavior to be adaptive does not imply a lack of suffering, either on the part of the individual or the community. It implies only that the occurrence of disturbing behavior and its alternatives have been shaped and maintained by a matrix of potent consequences (see for example, Goldiamond, 1974;Layng & Andronis, 1984). Accordingly, understanding disturbing-behavior requires understanding the matrix of consequential contingencies into which the behavior and its available alternatives enter (Goldiamond, 1975b(Goldiamond, , 1979b(Goldiamond, , 1984.…”