Empirical research Measuring self and rules in what people say: exploring whether self-discrimination predicts long-term wellbeing Paul W.B. Atkins a,n , Robert G. Styles b a Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW 2135, Australia b Australian National University, Acton, ACT 0200, Australia article info Article history: Received 17 January 2014 Received in revised form 28 April 2016 Accepted 9 May 2016 Keywords: Self Mixed method research Identity Epistemology Psychological flexibility Qualitative research abstract Relational Frame Theory views the self as verbal discrimination of one's own behavior using deictic framing. We coded interviews similar to those occurring in therapy sessions for occurrences of a con- ceptualized, experiential or observing sense of self as well as values-oriented or control-oriented self- rules. We then used the frequencies of these different forms of self-discrimination to predict wellbeing 6 and 12 months later. Participants were legal and medical professionals who completed a range of wellbeing measures as well as interviews exploring their emotional and epistemic responses to personal life events. Two self-discrimination behaviors, reflecting values-oriented self-rules and self-as-context, predicted wellbeing 6 and 12 months later. While exploratory, this study suggests that the ways people discriminate their own behavior in natural language is a reliable determinant of wellbeing over extended periods. This approach provides researchers and clinicians with an additional tool for understanding and working with identity and psychological flexibility. & 2016 Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In this study we use a contextual-behavioral account of self to explore whether long-term wellbeing is predicted by the way a person talks about themselves and what they care about. Our in- terest in this approach stemmed from our efforts to understand the effects of mindfulness training upon the flexibility and au- thenticity of participant's sense of self. Our longer term aim is to develop and validate a behavioral approach to measuring changes in self-discrimination resulting from mindfulness training, therapy or other behavior change interventions. The behavior of talking about the self and its experiences is at the very core of psychology and modern society more generally. But there are widely varying views regarding the nature of the self (e. g. Gallagher, 2011; Leary & Tangney, 2012). From the very ear- liest beginnings of psychology (James, 1890/1950), there has been a distinction between a sense of a “me” that is conceptualized and an “I” that is in process and is experiential. Most empirical studies of self within psychology have focused upon the conceptualized self, including studies of self-awareness, self-esteem and identity (Harter, 2012). The modal view is of the self as an object that has attributes, roles and traits that can be conceptualized. Witness the huge number of self-report instruments developed within psy- chology to map an almost endless variety of psychological con- structs based upon conceptualizations of the self. From the contextual-behavioral perspective, such theorizing can be problematic if it ignores the ontogeny of self and assumes the self is an entity. A theory of self must be consistent with em- pirical research regarding development of self during childhood and explain the functional role of language in constructing a sense of self. In this paper, we present a dynamic view of self as lin- guistically constructed, and link that process to long-term wellbeing. 2. A contextual behavioral account of self From a behavioral perspective, to “self” is to verbally dis- criminate one's own behavior. This behavior is strongly reinforced by our social community (Skinner, 1976). A prototypical, non-ver- bal form of this behavior can be found in pigeons who are able to ‘report’ on their previous behavior by differentially pecking keys (Skinner, 1953). But in humans, this capacity to discriminate and classify one's own behavior is vastly more complex. As children we are continually reinforced for being able to appropriately report “I want …”, “I am …”, “I know …” and so on. According to Skinner (1976), the self is “a repertoire of behavior imparted by an orga- nized set of contingencies”. That is, we construct a sense of self in response to the functional demands of social interactions and “it is Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcbs Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2016.05.001 2212-1447/& 2016 Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. n Correspondence to: Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield 2135, NSW, Australia. E-mail address: paulw.atkins@acu.edu.au (P.W.B. Atkins). Please cite this article as: Atkins, P. W. B., & Styles, R. G. Measuring self and rules in what people say: exploring whether self- discrimination predicts long-term wellbeing. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2016.05.001i Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎