Abstract
The Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges may have come closer than anyone else to envisioning a radical behavioristic aesthetics. What he said about poetry can be generalized to other art forms: that poetry happens when someone reads a poem. Art, therefore, is the behavioral episode in which someone responds to the stimuli arranged by the artist. Because each person that comes into contact with a work of art has a different history with the work and its elements, responding will vary widely for persons and for the same person at different times. An essential feature of this history is the network of derived relations involving the elements of the artwork, and the transfer and transformation of behavioral functions across this network.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The manuscript does not report any data.
Notes
The Eroica came first in a worldwide survey of 151 leading conductors conducted by BBC Music Magazine in 2016, to determine the 20 greatest symphonies of all time. Each conductor indicated the three symphonies they considered the greatest (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/04/beethoven-eroica-greatest-symphony-vote-bbc-mozart-mahler).
Because Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco, as well as their murals, are not so remote from the context in which they were produced, the way people respond to them today may have not yet changed so dramatically.
One of the reasons why my distinction is arbitrary is because it is not clear whether equivalence class formation is different from operant behavior at the process level. Also, relational learning involving different relational frames affects our responding, but this will not be addressed here (see, e.g., Dougher et al., 2007).
This is a crude approximation. There may be differences in responding to the US and to the CS.
A node is a stimulus that links two others in the baseline training that produces equivalence classes. For instance, if baseline training comprises relations AB and BC, B is a node. If training comprises relations AB, BC, CD, and DE, there are three nodes, B, C, and D. Stimulus E is three nodes distant from A, whereas C is just one node distant. Therefore, nodal distance between A and E is larger than between A and C.
References
Barnes-Holmes, D., & Harte, C. (2022). Relational frame theory 20 years on: The Odysseus voyage and beyond. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 117(2), 240–266. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.733
Barnes-Holmes, D., Staunton, C., Whelan, R., Barnes-Holmes, Y., Commins, S., Walsh, D., Stewart, I., Smeets, P., & Dymond, S. (2005). Derived stimulus relations, semantic priming, and event-related potentials: testing a behavioral theory of semantic networks. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 84, 417–433. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2005.78-04
Belisle, J., & Dixon, M. R. (2020). Relational density theory: Nonlinearity of equivalence relating examined through higher-order volumetric-mass-density. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 43, 259–283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-020-00248-w
Borges, J. L. (2000). This craft of verse. Harvard University Press.
Bortoloti, R., & de Rose, J. C. (2009). Assessment of the relatedness of equivalent stimuli through a semantic differential. The Psychological Record, 59, 563–590. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395682
Bortoloti, R., & de Rose, J. C. (2011). An “Orwellian” account of stimulus equivalence: Are some stimuli “more equivalent” than others? European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 12, 121–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021149.2011.11434359
Bortoloti, R., & de Rose, J. C. (2012). Equivalent stimuli are more strongly related after training with delayed matching than after simultaneous matching: A study using the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). The Psychological Record, 62, 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395785
Bortoloti, R., Rodrigues, N. C., Cortez, M. D., Pimentel, N., & de Rose, J. C. (2013). Overtraining increases the strength of equivalence relations. Psychology & Neuroscience, 6, 357–364. https://doi.org/10.3922/j.psns.2013.3.13
de Almeida, J. H., & de Rose, J. C. (2015). Changing the meaningfulness of abstract stimuli by the reorganization of equivalence classes: Effects of delayed matching. The Psychological Record, 65, 451–461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-015-0120-9
Debert, P., Matos, M. A., & McIlvane, W. J. (2007). Conditional relations with compound abstract stimuli using a go/no-go procedure. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 87, 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2007.46-05
Doran, E., & Fields, L. (2012). All stimuli are equal, but some are more equal than others: Measuring relational preferences within an equivalence class. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 98, 243–256. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2012.98-243
Dougher, M. J., Augustson, E., Markham, M. R., Greenway, D. E., & Wulfert, E. (1994). The transfer of respondent eliciting and extinction functions through stimulus equivalence classes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 62, 331–351. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1994.62-331
Dougher, M. J., Hamilton, D. A., Fink, B. C., & Harrington, J. (2007). Transformation of the discriminative and eliciting functions of generalized relational stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 88, 179–197. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2007.45-05
Eilertsen, J. M., & Arntzen, E. (2021). Formation of equivalence classes including emotional functions. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 21, 221–237.
Fields, L., & Watanabe-Rose, M. (2008). Nodal structure and the partitioning of equivalence classes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 89, 359–381. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2008-89-359
Fields, L., Landon-Jimenez, D. V., Buffington, D. M., & Adams, B. J. (1995). Maintained nodal distance effects after equivalence class formation. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 64, 129–145. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1995.64-129
Gandarela, L., Boldrin, L. S., & Debert, P. (2020). Transfer of avoidance function in equivalence classes using loss of points as the aversive stimulus. The Psychological Record, 70, 471–479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-019-00365-2
Gardiner, J. E. (2013). Bach: Music in the castle of heaven. Alfred A. Knopf.
Glenn, S. S., Malott, M. E., Andery, M. A. P. A., Benvenuti, M., Houmanfar, R. A., Sandaker, I., Todorov, J. C., Tourinho, E. Z., & Vasconcelos, L. A. (2016). Toward consistent terminology in a behaviorist approach to cultural analysis. Behavior and Social Issues, 25(1), 11–27. https://doi.org/10.5210/bsi.v25i0.6634
Haimson, B., Wilkinson, K. M., Rosenquist, C., Ouimet, C., & McIlvane, W. J. (2009). Electrophysiological correlates of stimulus equivalence processes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 92(2), 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2009.92-245
Harte, C., Barnes-Holmes, D., Moreira, M., de Almeida, J. H., Passarelli, D., & de Rose, J. C. (2021). Exploring a Training IRAP as a single participant context for analyzing reversed derived relations and persistent rule-following. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 115, 460–480. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.671
Hayes, S. C., Kohlenberg, B., & Hayes, L. J. (1991). The transfer of specific and general consequential functions through simple and conditional equivalence relations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 56, 119–137. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1991.56-119
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (2001). Relational frame theory: A post-skinnerian account of human language and cognition. Kluwer.
Leader, G., Barnes, D., & Smeets, P. (1996). Establishing equivalence relations using a respondent-type training procedure. The Psychological Record, 46, 685–706. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395192.
Malott, M. E. (2019). How a few individuals brought about a cultural cusp: From a Mexican mural program to a movement. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 42(4), 773–814. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-019-00211-4
Mechner, F. (2018). A behavioral and biological analysis of aesthetics: Implications for research and applications. The Psychological Record, 68, 287–321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-017-0228-1.
Moss-Lourenco, P., & Fields, L. (2011). Nodal structure and stimulus relatedness in equivalence classes: post-class formation preference tests. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 95, 343–368. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.2011.95-343
Oliveira, W. C. (1979). Beethoven, proprietário de um cérebro. Editora Perspectiva.
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning. University of Illinois Press.
Perez, W. F., Fidalgo, A., Kovac, R., & Nico, Y. C. (2015). The transfer of Cfunc contextual control through equivalence relations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 103, 511–523. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.150.
Rehfeldt, R. A., Chan, S., & Katz, B. (2021). The Beethoven revolution: A case study in selection by consequences. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 44, 69–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-020-00271-x
Sidman, M. (1994). Equivalence relations and behavior: A research story. Authors Cooperative.
Sidman, M., & Tailby, W. (1982). Conditional discrimination vs. matching to sample: An expansion of the testing paradigm. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1982.37-5
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Free Press.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Prentice Hall.
Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement: a theoretical analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Steinberg, M. (1995). The symphony: A listener’s guide. Oxford University Press.
Thompson, T. (2018). Behavioral functions of aesthetics: Science and art, reason, and emotion. The Psychological Record, 68, 365–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-018-0314-z
Conflict of Interest
I have no known conflict of interest to declare.
Code Availability
Not applicable
Funding
Preparation of the manuscript was supported by grants from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Grant 2014/50909-8) and the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq, Grant 465686/2014-1), to the National Institute of Science and Technology on Behavior, Cognition, and Teaching (INCT-ECCE).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
The manuscript does not report experimental research.
Consent to Participate
Not applicable
Consent for Publication
Not applicable
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Rose, J.C. Derived Relations and Meaning in Responding to Art. Perspect Behav Sci 45, 445–455 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-022-00334-1
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-022-00334-1