Four Self-Related IRAPs: Analyzing and Interpreting Effects in Light of the DAARRE Model

Two studies are presented that involved exploring four different versions of the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP) to target self-relevant stimulus relations. Experiment 1 employed stimuli from previous research that used the IRAP to target stimulus relations pertaining to self, and self-esteem in particular. Experiment 2 aimed to explore the use of different types of stimuli (i.e., pictures as well as words), that again focused on self-related stimulus relations, and their potential correlations with measures of self-esteem and psychological distress. Experiment 1 yielded broadly similar findings to those reported previously. Experiment 2 showed that only one trial type from the IRAP using pictures depicting success versus failure correlated with the measures of self-esteem and psychological distress; none of the remaining 11 trial types across the three IRAPs yielded any significant correlations. The current findings may be seen as relatively progressive when presented in the context of a theoretical model that may be used, albeit in a post-hoc manner, to interpret the specific IRAP response patterns obtained in the current and previously published research. In particular, an in-depth RFT conceptual analysis of the findings using a recently proposed model of IRAP effects is presented.