Relational Frame Theory

What is Relational Frame Theory?

Relational Frame Theory is a theory of human language, cognition and behaviour.

What are the main assumptions?

• Humans learn a lot of things about the world creating relationship between things not shaped by trial and error experiences, but through what other people told them through language.
• Humans can assign a meaning to a word not based on its physical property but on their own interpretation that may depend on the context.
• Therefore words may assume different meaning depending on the context.
• Therefore the meaning assigned to words may not be true.
• Because the meaning assigned to words may not be true and this may lead to behaviour that avoid to act towards our values, the human language has the potential to create psychological suffering.

What are the main criticisms of these theories?

I have not found specific criticism to the main assumptions of the theory, but only to the clarity and the novelty of the theory.