Is the linkage between ACT and RFT post hoc?
It has sometimes been said that the link between ACT and RFT is post hoc, but that is not the case. The basic, applied, and philosophical work co-evolved from the very beginning. In some areas of behavior analysis, applied work is based on animal work that is well worked out. Unfortunately, in the area of language and cognition the animal work never got there, so there was a more iterative process. RFT began from a clinical lab that was trying to fill a need for a better basic analysis. The work went back and forth from basic to applied constantly. Many of the publications come out years later, so understanding the sequence of events requires a closer look at the record. For example Steele and Hayes, 1991 if the first undeniably RFT experimental study, but it was designed and conducted in 1985-86 and was the cap of a six or seven year long process of both basic and applied development. Rob Zettle has written about this history. He was not just there but also created some of the key con
