| Abstract: Behaviorism is often contrasted with mentalism, which purports that behavior is attributable to the mind or “mental activity.” In this way, mentalism includes the attribution of behavior to constructs found within the person like personality, mood, diagnosis, will, or the Self (among others) - a perspective which dominates mental health treatment. Behaviorism is distinct, however, in viewing behavior in terms of context-behavior interactions. One conceptualization of context-behavior interactions is as functional relations, or relationships where participants convolve (i.e., co-evolve), bidirectionally, with neither serving as cause nor effect.This approach centers the functional relationship as the primary unit of analysis, with distinctions among individual factors secondary to further analytic purposes. The functional relationship is a powerful construct, honoring the complexity of our subject matter without foregoing an actionable foundation for analysis. One application of the construct of functional relationship might be as a referent for translating mentalism. We will explore the idea that treating the mind (along with personality, mood, the Self or other mentalist constructs) as a metaphor for functional relations could allow for improved discourse with non-behavioral mental health practitioners and effective integration of non-behavioral data and wisdom relevant to mental health. Examples and challenges will be discussed. |
 Dr. Emily K. Sandoz (she/they) is the Director of the University Honors Program, the Emma Louise LeBlanc Burguieres/BORSF Endowed Professor of Social Sciences, and Full Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Emily is also the Director of the Louisiana Contextual Science Research Group, which supports collaborative contributions from students and professionals from all over the world. They have co-authored three books on acceptance and commitment therapy for struggles with eating and body image, along with chapters and journal articles on contextual behavioral science, social justice, clinical behavioral processes, and psychological flexibility. Emily has led more than 100 training workshops for professionals around the world, and serves as a peer-reviewed ACT trainer. They also practice as a Clinical Psychologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, focusing on clinical behavior analysis. |