Psychology BA (C), Relational Frame Theory, 7.5 Credits

About the course

This course provides an in-depth introduction to Relational Frame Theory, RFT, a modern functional contextual approach to human language and cognition. You will study the origins, core concepts and development of RFT, and examine how the theory can be used to analyse human behaviour, verbal processes and applied psychological questions.

The course builds on previous studies in learning theory and gives you opportunities to practise using RFT concepts in analysis, discussion and research design. A central part of the course is learning how to formulate research questions and develop a research plan based on RFT.

What you will learn

After completing the course, you will be able to describe the foundations and development of Relational Frame Theory, explain central processes in relational framing, give examples of RFT applications, analyse human behaviour from an RFT perspective, and design a research plan grounded in RFT.

Course content

The course covers:

• The emergence and development of Relational Frame Theory.


• The scientific and philosophical assumptions behind RFT.


• Fundamental relational framing processes.


• RFT as an approach to language, cognition and human behaviour.


• Applications of RFT in areas such as clinical psychology, organisational psychology, educational psychology, memory research and other basic or applied research fields.


• Development of a research plan based on RFT.