Verbal behavior development theory and relational frame theory: Reflecting on similarities and differences
Two language theories agree more than they differ, and blending them helps you spot hidden skills in your learners.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors lined up two big language theories: Verbal Behavior Development Theory (VBDT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT).
They mapped where the theories agree and where they clash.
The goal was to show researchers how to mix the best parts of both when studying how kids learn new words without direct teaching.
What they found
Both theories say children can learn new word relations through generalization, not just drill.
VBDT calls this "derived relational responding." RFT calls it "arbitrarily applicable relational responding.
The paper gives a side-by-side chart so future studies can pick shared terms and avoid talking past each other.
How this fits with other research
Erhard et al. (2025) showed bilingual kids who learned a label in English suddenly used it in Spanish. The target paper explains why: the child formed an equivalence relation, a process both VBDT and RFT predict.
Grow et al. (2017) got play actions to emerge after only tact training. The target paper links this to RFT’s idea of transformation of stimulus function—once the word "car" is related to the toy, the toy gains new functions (pretend driving).
Cordeiro et al. (2022) found that switching from set-level to target-level mastery cut training time. The target paper warns that faster mastery may miss subtle relational responses, so probe for emergent skills even after the child hits criterion.
Baum (2025) offers a molar view of schedule control. The target paper borrows that lens, arguing that language learning is also molar—shaped by long patterns of social feedback, not just the last reinforcer.
Why it matters
You can stop treating VBDT and RFT as rival camps. Use VBDT to pick your first targets and RFT to probe for untaught relations. Next time you run tact training, add a quick probe for cross-language or cross-modality generalization. You may discover the child already knows more than your data sheet shows.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory are two behavior-analytic perspectives on human language and cognition. Despite sharing reliance on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory have largely been developed independently, with initial applications in clinical psychology and education/development, respectively. The overarching goal of the current paper is to provide an overview of both theories and explore points of contact that have been highlighted by conceptual developments in both fields. Verbal behavior development theory research has identified how behavioral developmental cusps make it possible for children to learn language incidentally. Recent developments in relational frame theory have outlined the dynamic variables involved across the levels and dimensions of arbitrarily applicable relational responding, and we argue for the concept of mutually entailed orienting as an act of human cooperation that drives arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Together these theories address early language development and children's incidental learning of names. We present broad similarities between the two approaches in the types of functional analyses they generate and discuss areas for future research.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2023 · doi:10.1002/jeab.836