Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40564577›Full record

ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2025

Follow, Flex, and Flout: A Relational Frame Theory Account of Flexibility in the Context of Rule-Governed Behavior.

Alison Stapleton, Conor McCloskey, Louise McHugh

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Alison StapletonSchool of Psychology, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0001-5719-3657
Conor McCloskeySchool of Psychology, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland.
Louise McHughSchool of Psychology, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0002-2526-4649

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Being able to change what we are doing when a behavior no longer serves us is important for our health and wellbeing. In the context of rule-governed behavior, changing one's behavior in line with shifting contingencies is often described as being "flexible", with many basic laboratory experiments operationalizing flexibility as deviations from a given rule that no longer results in reinforcement. And yet flexibility is not just about flouting rules; sometimes, being flexible means persisting. This paper unpacks flexibility in the context of rule-governed behavior from a relational frame theory perspective, outlining applied examples relevant to health behaviors.

Indexed as

flexibilityhealthpliancerelational frame theoryrule-governedtracking

Identifiers

PMID40564577
PMCPMC12190053

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.