Political and societal polarization represents one of the most significant behavioral phenomena of contemporary society, with measurable consequences for democratic institutions, public health policy, and collective action on shared challenges. Colin Harte's EABA 2025 Summer School session explores how Relational Frame Theory — as a behavioral account of human language and cognition — offers a uniquely suited framework for analyzing the mechanisms by which polarizing behaviors emerge, persist, and spread.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via European Association for Behaviour Analysis
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Join Free →There has been a growing concern in recent years about political and societal polarization. In particular, such polarizing behaviors have been argued to threaten democracy given that they result in the erosion of societal consensus, which in turn may have important global implications. How and why such behaviors emerge and persist, however, is still a matter of debate. Relational Frame Theory (RFT) as a behavioral account of human language and cognition may be particularly suited to explore this issue. The current talk will consider how RFT, and in particular recent empirical and conceptual advances in the theory, may be applied to developing increasingly precise conceptual and empirical analyses of polarization. Join the discussion here https://www.facebook.com/groups/679733124989074/
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
Dr. Colin Harte received his PhD in psychology from Ghent University in Belgium. He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow affiliated with the Federal University of São Carlos, and Instituto Par, a behavior science institute based in São Paulo (Brazil). His work to date has largely focused on the empirical and conceptual development of relational frame theory (RFT) as a behaviour-analytic account of human language and cognition. More specifically, he has focused on applying recent advances in the theory to developing analyses of persistent rule-following, human psychological suffering, and social issues such as political polarization. To this end, he has published 36 peer reviewed journal articles, 5 book chapters in edited volumes, edited a recent special volume of The Psychological Record on behaviour analyses of human language and cognition, and presented multiple papers and workshops at international behaviour science conferences. He also currently serves on the editorial boards of The Psychological Record, the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, and the Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis, having previously served on the boards of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and Behavior and Social Issues.
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