A Pilot Study: Evaluating the Effects of Defusion on Choice Making Under Negative and Positive Reinforcement Contingencies

The goal of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is to help people engage in experiential avoidance less and committed action toward values more. One possible behavior analytic interpretation is that it helps people choose short-term negative reinforcement less and choose longer-term positive reinforcement more. To our knowledge, no laboratory research to date has evaluated the effect of ACT interventions on the behavior of choosing between immediate negative reinforcement or delayed positive reinforcement. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of defusion exercises on participants' choice making on a delay discounting computer task that presented choices between immediate avoidance of an aversive sound or presentation of the aversive sound and delayed positive reinforcement in the form of money. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to measure changes in discounting before and after a brief defusion session. All three participants discounted less steeply (i.e., selected to listen to the sound in order to earn money more often) following defusion training when compared to baseline.