The Flexible SelfDr. Louise McHugh

University College Dublin

Where is your ‘self’?

Ferrari et al 2008

YOU ARE HERE!

I was so stressed yesterday, I

wasn’t myself!

I was so stressed yesterday, I

wasn’t myself!

Then who were you?Then who were you?

Social animals…

A sense of self?

• Only humans have a sense of self

• Why?

• Humans have language 

Symbolic relationships between things…

• Is what allows us to make sounds that other people understand rather than simply pointing and grunting at things

‘HAT’‘Kelly’

Relationships based on cues

Physical Relationships

=

CONTEXTUAL CUE

=

CONTEXTUAL CUE

IS SAME AS

CONTEXTUAL CUE

Nic

BAD OK GOOD

BADNic

Language

We also learn to manipulate it through sound and symbols

Milk Please!

Milk Please!

Just as we learn to manipulate the environment with our body and hands

• Same as (‘Jumjaw is the same as dog’)• Opposite (‘Day is opposite to Night’)• Different (‘Boys are different from Girls’)• Comparison (‘£1 is more than 10p’)• Perspective (‘I am here and you are there’)

We can relate in many ways

If someone has a fear of dogs, and they are told that ‘jumjaw’ is another word for dog, then fear may be elicited upon hearing ‘Here comes a jumjaw!’

‘DOG’is a

‘Jumjaw’is a

Psychological

Function

Transformation of Functions

Psychological

Function

• So language is responding to abstract relations

• So what does that have to do with the ‘self’?

‘I think therefore I am’‘I think therefore I am’

No Rene – you learn to verbally discriminate your own behavior from others behavior

- therefore you are

No Rene – you learn to verbally discriminate your own behavior from others behavior

- therefore you are

I had a banana for breakfast

I had a banana for breakfast

No silly I had a

banana for breakfast

No silly I had a

banana for breakfast

What did YOU have for breakfast?What did YOU have for breakfast?

I feel happyI feel happy

I am happier than you!

I am happier than you!

I am a happy person!

I am a happy person!

As a child begins to relate more and more of their own behavior…

…and to compare it with that of others…

…they begin to have a concept of self

I feel sadI feel sad

I am not as happy as you

I am not as happy as you

I am a depressed person!

I am a depressed person!

‘The key to a happier world is the growth of compassion’

Dalai Lama

Understanding others?

Theory of Mind Module

I Know what you are thinking! I have a ‘module’ in my brain that tells me!

I Know what you are thinking! I have a ‘module’ in my brain that tells me!

I versus YOU HERE versus THERE NOW versus THEN

• Perspective relations specify a relation in terms of the perspective of the speaker

Consider the three relations of:

CBS Approach to Perspective-Taking

Each time a child is asked or answers questions such as:

“What are you doing here?” “What was I doing then?” “What am I doing now?” “What were you doing there?”

the physical environment will likely be different… The only constant across such questions are the

relational properties of: I versus You

Here versus There Now versus Then

CBS Approach to Perspective-Taking

Relation Type• I / YOU• HERE / THERE• NOW / THEN

Complexity• Simple Relations• Reversed Relations• Double Reversed Relations

Two important variables:

McHugh, et al., (2004)

CBS Approach to Perspective-Taking

A Simple Relation Task I have a white brick and you have a red brick

Which brick do you have?

Which brick do I have?

I am sitting here on the blue chair and you are sitting there on the black chair

and YOU were ME

Where would I be sitting?

Here: There:

A Reversed Relation Task

If I was YOU

Where would you be sitting?

Yesterday I was sitting there on the black chair, today I am sitting here on the blue chair

and NOW was THEN and THEN was NOW

Where would I be sitting now?

Now: Then:

A Double Reversed Relation Task

Where would I be sitting then?

If HERE was THERE and THERE was HERE

Here: There:

3-5 year olds perform worst

I don’t know!I don’t know!

McHugh, et al., 2004

If I was YOU where would I be sitting?

If I was YOU where would I be sitting?

It can be trained

Weil et al., (2010)

Simple

Reversed

DoubleReversed

More relating on tasks about others?

Example of Self Belief taskIf I put the pencils in the smarties box and you are not thereI would think the smarties box contains SMARTIES (F)

Example of Other’s Belief taskIf you put the pencils in the smarties box and I am not thereYou would think the smarties box contains PENCILS (T)

McHugh, et al., (2007)

SIGNIFICANT*

OTHERSELF

Response

Times

Trial-Type

* There were significant differences in response times between Self versus Other tasks (p <.05)*

Self belief tasks involve less relating

Autism-related and schizophrenia spectrum disorders

ASD: Rehfeldt, et al., 2007

• Children with high-functioning autism or asperger syndrome performed worse on the RFT PT protocol than their age-matched typically developing counterparts

Children diagnosed with ASD do worseChildren diagnosed with ASD do worse

Villatte, et al. (2009): Patients with Schizophrenia

0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

I-You simple Here-Theresimple

Now -Thensimple

I-Youreversed

Here-Therereversed

Now -Thenreversed

I-You/Here-Theredouble

reversed

Here-There/Now -Then double

reversed

Trial-Type

Pro

port

ion

of p

artic

ipan

ts s

corin

g ov

er 0

.67

Controls

Patients

Controlled for IQControlled for IQ

Patients do worse on reversed and double

reversed

Patients do worse on reversed and double

reversed

SimpleReversed

DoubleReversed

Villatte, et al. (2010): Patients with Schizophrenia

0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

Self/True belief Self/False belief Other/True belief Other/False belief

Trial type

P

rop

ort

ion

of

pa

rtic

ipa

nts

sco

ring

ove

r 0

.67

Controls

Patients

Patients do worse on other and false beliefPatients do worse on other and false belief

Villatte, et al. (2010)

Non-clinical pts high social anhedonia

0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

I-Yousimple

Here-Theresimple

Now -Thensimple

I-Youreversed

Here-Therereversed

Now -Thenreversed

I-You/Here-Theredouble

reversed

Here-There/Now -

Thendouble

reversed

Trial-Type

Me

an

ra

te o

f a

ccu

racy

Control

Experimental

SA do worse on double reversedSA do worse on double reversed

Belief attribution

0,5

0,6

0,7

0,8

0,9

1

Self Other

Attribution type

Me

an

ra

te o

f a

ccu

racy

Control

Experimental

SA do worse on other belief

SA do worse on other belief

So how does this link to ACT?

Double Edged Sword

Verbal self-knowledge is a two-edged sword

It can be important and beneficial to human beings while it can also be a cause of pain and suffering

Were as smart as Dermot

Were as smart as Dermot

Comparison is a bitch

‘I wish I…’

Were as young as I am in this photo!

Were as young as I am in this photo!

Had great hair like Russ

Had great hair like Russ

Were as good at presenting

as Robyn

Were as good at presenting

as Robyn

Even if you are a mega star…

1969

I am not good enough as I am.In order to be good enoughI need to look a certain way

I am not good enough as I am.In order to be good enoughI need to look a certain way

1979

1989

2009

3 Selves in ACT

• Self as content Story

• Self as process Contacting the present

• Self as context Flexible Perspective Taking

SELF AS CONTENT

I’m not good enough.

I am too anxious

SELF AS CONTENT

I’m not good enough.

I am too anxious

SELF AS PROCESSI HERE NOW notice my

thoughts and feelings and what I can see, hear, touch taste and smell

SELF AS PROCESSI HERE NOW notice my

thoughts and feelings and what I can see, hear, touch taste and smell

EMPATHYI HERE NOW

notice that you are

feeling sad

EMPATHYI HERE NOW

notice that you are

feeling sad

SELF COMPASSIONI HERE NOW notice my pain and respond

with kindness

SELF COMPASSIONI HERE NOW notice my pain and respond

with kindnessTRANSCENDENT

SELFI HERE NOW am the observer of my

thoughts and feelings

TRANSCENDENT SELF

I HERE NOW am the observer of my

thoughts and feelings

Training Flexible Perspective Taking

Step 1. Basic Perspective Training ‘If I were you, where would I be?’

‘If I were you and here was there, where would I be?’

Step 2. Empathy Training ‘I feel sad. If you were me, how would you feel?’

‘I’ve won a prize. If you were me, how would you feel?’

Step 3. Self-as-Context ‘I watch thoughts and feelings come and go. Who is it that is watching them?’

Vilardaga & Hayes, 2009

Informing intervention?

More on this…

Thank you!

I

I eat pizzaI hear my friends calling

I smell perfume

I believe in choice

I am silly

I go to the shop

I like to readI watch TV

I like facebookI remember being in Italy

I close to my sister

I am stubborn

I hate beansI travel regularly

I am honest

I love RFT

I think the glee is great

I have sweaty hands

I get anxious

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

I-YOU simple

HERE-THERE simple

NOW-THEN simple

I-YOU reversed

HERE-THERE reversed

NOW-THEN reversed

I-YOU/HERE- THERE double reversed

HERE THERE/NOW-THEN Double reversed

Trial-Type

% M

ean

Erro

rs Early Childhood

Middle Childhood Late Childhood Adolescence Adulthood

McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, & Barnes-Holmes (2004)

3-5 year olds struggle

The conceptualized self trap

I slept all day. I am a lazy person.

Result: The only way to change your

future is to change your past. You’re Stuck!

Self as a mental experience?

• The self seems so real!

an illusion of self

DEICTICLinguistics Of or relating to a word, the determination of whose referent is dependent on the context in which it is said or written. In the sentence I want him to come here now, the words I, here, him, and now are deictic because the determination of their referents depends on who says that sentence, and where, when, and of whom it is said.