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An Experimental Analysis of Defusion Interactions Based on Deictic and Hierarchical Framings and Their Impact on Cognitive Performance

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Abstract

The aim of the current study was to analyze the effect of different types of framing one’s own behavior, as in defusion interactions, on performance in several experimental tasks. For this purpose, in Phase 1 (or pretest), 34 participants performed two experimental tasks that induced discomfort. In Phase 2, participants were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental protocols: the Defusion I protocol was basically made up of deictic framing interactions— I/You, Here/There, Now/Then—to promote flexibility in perspective taking of the psychological content; the Defusion II protocol incorporated not only deictic framing but also hierarchical framing to promote a perspective where the psychological content is experienced in a hierarchical relation with the deictic “'I” and several cues to specify the regulatory or augmental function; and the Control protocol did not include any active protocol component. Finally, in Phase 3 (or posttest), participants repeated the two experimental tasks. Results indicate that all participants’ performance increased after the intervention. However, the superiority of Defusion II condition was shown. Conclusions of the current study are focused on the type of framing involved in the so-called defusion interactions that ensure its efficacy, supported by the improvement of performance observed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento Psicología, Universidad de Almería, 04120, Almería, Spain

    Juan C. López-López & Carmen Luciano

  2. Madrid Institute Contextual Psychology (MICPSY), Madrid, Spain

    Carmen Luciano

Authors
  1. Juan C. López-López
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  2. Carmen Luciano
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Correspondence to Juan C. López-López.

Ethics declarations

This study is part of the thesis defended by the first author under the supervision of the second author. This study has been funded by the National Training University Teachers Plan (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport) and part of the research projects PSI2011-25497 and PSI2014-59610-P of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

The procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

This study is part of the thesis defended by the first author under the supervision of the second author. This study has been funded by the National Training University Teachers Plan (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport) and part of the research project PSI2011-25497 of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain.

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López-López, J.C., Luciano, C. An Experimental Analysis of Defusion Interactions Based on Deictic and Hierarchical Framings and Their Impact on Cognitive Performance. Psychol Rec 67, 485–497 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-017-0250-3

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