A Behavioral Approach to the Human Understanding of Time: Relational Frame Theory and Temporal Relational Framing

Time is a fundamentally important dimension of human experience and responding adaptively in terms of this dimension is critical to human personal and societal functioning. However, there is an important distinction to be made between responding to time as a physical or nonarbitrary dimension of existence and time as an abstract concept. It is the latter that is critical to the type of self-knowledge and societal organization that is unique to human life. Relational frame theory (RFT) sees relational framing, and temporal relational framing in particular, as key to this uniquely human level of responding. The purpose of this article is to (1) explain temporal relational framing and the relevant research into this skill; (2) discuss existing psychological research into time-related skill sets in humans; and (3) explore how the RFT approach to human temporal responding might amplify and extend the existing research base, in particular with respect to the acquisition and training of key aspects of temporal responding.