2016 Volume 42 Issue 3 Pages 387-398
The purpose of the present study was to examine mechanisms underlying self-control from the perspective of relational responding, through an analysis of the relationship between the ability to specify a contingency and to establish temporal derived relational responding, and between self-control and the ability to transform stimulus functions in according with temporal and comparative relations. Elementary school students (N＝33) completed a temporal and comparative relational task intended as a measure of relational ability, a reverse task and a picture arrangement task to measure their ability to specify contingencies, and a delay-discounting questionnaire and social maturity scale to assess self-control. Participants who passed the relational test also obtained high scores on the picture arrangement. However, no significant relationship was found between relational ability and self-control. The discussion deals with the role of temporal and comparative relational framing in self-control.
