RFT App

Relational frame

The distinction frame

Relating stimuli as different, without specifying how.

What it looks like

Distinction is the relation behind "not that one", "these are different", and "a chair is not a table". It is one of the first frames taught after coordination, and it does a great deal of work in early discrimination training.

Mutual entailment holds: if A is different from B, then B is different from A. Combinatorial entailment is weaker than in coordination, because knowing A differs from B and B differs from C does not tell you how A relates to C.

Worked example

A learner is taught that a cup is different from a spoon, and that a spoon is different from a fork. They derive that a spoon differs from a cup.

They cannot derive the cup-to-fork relation from distinction alone. That limit is a real property of the frame, not a gap in teaching, and lesson design should respect it.

How to build a lesson for this frame

  1. Establish coordination first

    Distinction is defined against sameness. A learner who cannot reliably match same to same will struggle to respond to different.

  2. Train explicit difference

    Present pairs and reinforce responding to the non-matching item under a "different" instruction, rotating position to prevent side bias.

  3. Probe symmetry

    Reverse the sample and comparison. Difference should hold in both directions without further teaching.

Common pitfalls

The most common error is treating distinction as the logical negation of coordination and expecting combinatorial entailment that the frame does not support. The second is inadvertently teaching position rather than relation by leaving the correct comparison in a fixed location.

Build a distinction lesson

Draft the trial structure in RFT App, then edit it into the program you actually want.

See how it works

Other relational frames

Coordination

Relating stimuli as the same or equivalent. The basis of naming.

Opposition

Relating stimuli as opposites along a shared dimension.

Comparison

Relating stimuli along a graded dimension: more, less, bigger.

Hierarchical

Relating stimuli as member and category, part and whole.

Common questions

What is a distinction frame?
A relational frame that relates stimuli as different from one another, without specifying the dimension on which they differ.
How is distinction different from opposition?
Distinction says only that two things are not the same. Opposition places them at opposite ends of a specific dimension, such as hot and cold.