In plain language
How should an entire scientific field decide where to focus its research energy? In 2018, the board of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) — the international home of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and related approaches — created a task force to answer that question. This white paper, published in Portuguese translation in the Brazilian journal Perspectivas em Análise do Comportamento, is the result of that two-and-a-half-year consensus process among leading producers and consumers of contextual behavioral science (CBS) research from around the world.
The task force of nineteen scientists agreed that CBS research should have five defining characteristics: it should be multilevel (spanning biology, individual behavior, and culture), process-based (focused on identifying the mechanisms by which change happens), multidimensional (covering emotion, cognition, attention, motivation and more), prosocial (aimed at outcomes that matter to people and communities, including social justice), and pragmatic (judged by its practical usefulness). Organized around these five characteristics, the report lays out 33 concrete recommendations — from more basic experimental research on the sources of behavioral influence, to idiographic (person-specific) research methods, to open-science practices.
In effect, the report is a detailed research agenda designed to maximize the impact of contextual behavioral science as a field. Its translation into Portuguese makes this strategic roadmap accessible to the large Portuguese-speaking behavioral science community, particularly in Brazil.
Key findings
- The ACBS Task Force reached consensus that contextual behavioral science research should be multilevel, process-based, multidimensional, prosocial and pragmatic.
- The report presents 33 specific recommendations for the CBS research community, organized across these five strategic characteristics.
- Recommendations include examining relevant variables across levels of analysis, conducting more basic experimental research on sources of behavioral influence, and testing mid-level terms for their usefulness in different contexts.
- The report calls for basic and applied research to identify processes of change, and for conceptualizing intervention "kernels" using a variety of applied research methods.
- The white paper emerged from a deliberate 2.5-year consensus process among nineteen representative producers and consumers of CBS research, initiated by the ACBS board in 2018 and approved in March 2020.
- This article is the official Portuguese translation of the original 2021 report published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science (open access, CC BY 4.0).
How to cite
APA
Hayes, S. C., Merwin, R. M., McHugh, L., Sandoz, E. K., A-Tjak, J. G. L., Ruiz, F. J., Barnes-Holmes, D., Bricker, J. B., Ciarrochi, J., Dixon, M. R., Fung, K. P.-L., Gloster, A. T., Gobin, R. L., Gould, E. R., Hofmann, S. G., Kasujja, R., Karekla, M., Luciano, C., & McCracken, L. M. (2025). Relatório da Força-Tarefa da ACBS sobre as estratégias e táticas de pesquisa em ciência comportamental contextual. Perspectivas em Análise do Comportamento, 16(2), 33–59. https://doi.org/10.18761/PAC.ACT.035
BibTeX
@article{hayes2025relatorio,
author = {Hayes, Steven C. and Merwin, Rhonda M. and McHugh, Louise and Sandoz, Emily K. and A-Tjak, Jacqueline G. L. and Ruiz, Francisco J. and Barnes-Holmes, Dermot and Bricker, Jonathan B. and Ciarrochi, Joseph and Dixon, Mark R. and Fung, Kenneth Po-Lun and Gloster, Andrew T. and Gobin, Robyn L. and Gould, Evelyn R. and Hofmann, Stefan G. and Kasujja, Rosco and Karekla, Maria and Luciano, Carmen and McCracken, Lance M.},
title = {Relat{\'o}rio da For{\c{c}}a-Tarefa da ACBS sobre as estrat{\'e}gias e t{\'a}ticas de pesquisa em ci{\^e}ncia comportamental contextual},
journal = {Perspectivas em An{\'a}lise do Comportamento},
year = {2025},
volume = {16},
number = {2},
pages = {33--59},
doi = {10.18761/PAC.ACT.035}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.