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Verbal Behavior Part 1 Study Guide...

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Skinner Study Questions Part 1

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Study Questions Part I: Ch. 1, 2, 8, Appendix, Chomsky, MacCorquodale

Chapter 1 1. Discuss how verbal behavior, as defined by Skinner, is similar to other behavior, how it differs from other behavior, and why a special treatment of it is justified (pp. 1-2) Verbal behavior is behavior maintained by socially mediated reinforcement for which the delivery of reinforcement is explicitly taught by a verbal community. Verbal behavior is readily observable, frequently occurring, has a high likelihood of IOA and has a pre-existing recording system (writing). Since it is easily observed, there is no shortage of material, facts as substantial as observers generally agree on what is said, and the development of the art of writing is a system of notation for reporting verbal behavior (Budzen, n.d.). Listener behavior is the reinforcement of verbal behavior. Listener behavior is frequently a response for which members of the verbal community have not been taught to reinforce in a specific fashion. Ex. Verbal behavior: “May I have a glass of water” Listener behavior: Gives glass of water Speaker: has not been taught to reinforce the behavior (handed a glass of water) in a specific fashion. They are similar as they both are maintained by socially mediated reinforcement. A special treatment of verbal behavior is justified because it requires establishment and existence of both verbal and listener repertoires. The existence of a culturally selected verbal community is necessary for verbal behavior. A special treatment is justified to provide a behavioral alternative to the current explanation. Additionally, verbal behavior requires the action of a culturally selected listener, nonverbal behavior does not. To modify verbal behavior we must modify listener behavior and create an environment which maintains the response (Josh Goldsmith, n.d.). 2. Why does Skinner object to “speech or language?” (p. 2) Skinner seeks a technical vocabulary - “speech” and “language” already have meaning. There is no history of use of the term “verbal behavior”. Speech and language have previous definitions (etymological sanctions) which are not appropriate for Skinner's definition of verbal behavior. (Budzen, n.d.) 3. Why has psychology neglected some of the events needed for a causal analysis of verbal behavior? (p. 5) There is a lack of an establishing operation to evoke further investigation when explanatory fictions exist. Maintenance of explanatory fiction is differentially reinforced (ex. cognitive psychologists reinforce the use of explanatory fictions) (Budzen, n.d.) 4. How have traditional “explanations” of verbal behavior tended to delay a science of verbal behavior? (pp. 5-10) Traditional explanations of verbal behavior provide an internal explanation. They do not address the functional relations of the behavior and instead try to diagnose the “meaning” of the behavior. Therefore, further exploration has not been evoked to understand how behavior functions to facilitate communication. Descriptive definitions in science are useful insofar as they identify natural phenomena that hang together in some distinctive way. In 1957, Skinner proposed an unusual definition of verbal behavior that has subsequently been criticized even by fellow behavior analysts. Skinner was not prescribing a definition; he was trying to characterize a coherent class of behavior that called for a special

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analysis. Like all descriptive definitions, Skinner’s captures the center of a distribution of behavior, but there are marginal cases that are ambiguous. A distinctive feature of his analysis of verbal behavior is that it is interpreted in the light of established principles of behavior that had been formulated in the study of nonverbal organisms. In the opening pages of Verbal Behavior he remarked, “No assumption is made of any uniquely verbal characteristic, and the principles and methods employed are adapted to the study of human behavior as a whole. Specifically, they argued that it is too broad and that it is not a functional definition (Heitzman-Powell et al , 2012). 5. What are the basic steps to be taken in a functional analysis of verbal behavior? Discuss in general some of the problems involved in such an analysis. (pp. 10-11) A basic step in the functional analysis of verbal behavior is to identify variables of which behavior is a function. This can be difficult because some topography may be members of different operant class and the speaker plays a role as a listener to their own verbal behavior. (Budzen, n.d.) 6. What is the purpose of this book? (pp. 10-11) The purpose is not: a literature review or experimentation. The purpose is: to lay out a conceptual framework according to verbal behavior that can be classified by its controlling variables. The purpose of the book is to conduct a conceptual functional analysis. Skinner identifies variables of which verbal behavior may be a function by applying evidence-based behavioral principles, assuming generality from animal studies and nonverbal behavior. (Budzen, n.d.) In 1934, at the age of 30, B.F. Skinner found himself at a dinner sitting next to Professor Alfred North Whitehead. Never one to lose an opportunity to promote behaviorism, Skinner expounded its main tenets to the distinguished philosopher. Whitehead acknowledged that science might account for most of human behavior but he would not include verbal behavior. He ended the discussion with a challenge: "Let me see you," he said, "account for my behavior as I sit here saying, 'No black scorpion is falling upon this table.'" (Skinner, 1957) The next morning Skinner began his book. It took him over twenty years to complete. The book extends the laboratory-based principles of selection by consequences to account for what people say, write, gesture, and think. Skinner argues that verbal behavior requires a separate analysis because it does not operate on the environment directly, but rather through the behavior of other people in a verbal community. He illustrates his thesis with examples from literature, the arts, and the sciences, as well as from his own verbal behavior and that of his colleagues and children. Perhaps it is because this theoretical work provides a way to approach that most human of human behavior that Skinner often called Verbal Behavior his most important work. 7. Why must we consider the behavior of the listener in an analysis of the behavior of the speaker (pp. 10-11)? Listener behavior is the reinforcement of verbal behavior. Listener behavior is frequently a response for which members of the verbal community have not been taught to reinforce in a specific fashion. Ex. Verbal behavior: “May I have a glass of water” Listener behavior: Gives glass of water Speaker: has not been taught to reinforce the behavior (handed a glass of water) in a specific fashion. (Budzen, n.d.) Chapter 2 1. How do we distinguish between verbal and nonverbal behavior? (p. 13) All forms of communication can be categorized as either verbal or nonverbal. In turn, both verbal and nonverbal communication can be subdivided into either vocal or non-vocal. Nonverbal communication is all aspects of communication other than words themselves. It includes not only gestures and body language but also how we utter words: inflection, pauses, tone, volume, and accent. These nonverbal features affect the meaning of our words. Nonverbal communication also includes

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features of environments that affect interaction, personal objects such as jewelry and clothes, physical appearance, and facial expressions. Nonverbal communication is symbolic: Like verbal communication, nonverbal communication is symbolic. Because nonverbal communication is symbolic, like verbal communication it is arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract. Thus, we cannot be sure what a wink or hand movement means. Similarly, we can't guarantee that others will perceive the meanings we intend to communicate with our nonverbal actions (http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/smithrd/UAE Communication/Unit2.pdf, n.d.)

2. Provide examples of vocal behavior that are verbal and that are nonverbal. (p. 14) Verbal examples: opoernats: manding, tacting, intraverbals, Nonverbal examples: Coughing without trying to get someone's attention, burping, sneezing, etc. I also think that some vocal responses such as "ow" when you stub your toe by yourself are vocal without being verbal. To represent different moods, we shrug our shoulders, lower our eyes, and move away from or toward others. We smile to symbolize pleasure in seeing a friend, frown to show anger or irritation, and widen our eyes to indicate surprise. Imitation of others actions. 3. According to Skinner, what is the basic unit of verbal behavior (19-22)? The basic unit is the verbal operant. The size of the verbal operant is flexible and is best determined by the size at which order emerges. (Budzen, n.d.) 4. Distinguish between “operant,” “response,” and “response instance” (p. 20) Response and operant are interchangeable. Response/operant (when Skinner uses these terms he is referring to response/operant classes) – a group of response topographies all maintained by the same reinforcer. Response instance: individual occurrence of response. An instance is a single response defined topographically. A class of responses is a collection of topographies of behavior which co-vary given the same environmental manipulation. It is difficult to predict the topography of a response but possible to predict the emission of an operant class given manipulation of environmental variables. 5. Discuss the role of the listener in the total verbal episode, and our interest in that role in analyzing verbal behavior. (p. 33-34) The role of the listener is in mediating reinforcement for verbal behavior. Any analysis of consequences of verbal behavior will necessitate an analysis of listener responding. (Budzen, n.d.) The listener, as an essential part of the situation in which verbal behavior is observed, is again a discriminative stimulus. That person is part of an occasion upon which verbal behavior is reinforced and he/she therefore becomes part of the occasion controlling the strength of the behavior. This function is to be distinguished from the action of the listener in reinforcing behavior....An audience, then, is a discriminative stimulus in the presence of which verbal behavior is characteristically reinforced and in the presence of which, therefore, it is characteristically strong” (Skinner , p. 172). Chapter 8 1. What is Skinner's refined definition of verbal behavior? What sorts of responses are now excluded from the definition he offered previously? (224-226) Skinner refines the definition of verbal behavior in Chapter 8 as “behavior reinforced through the mediation of other persons [who] must be responding in ways which have been conditioned precisely in order to reinforce the behavior of the speaker” (p. 225). The second part of the definition “[who] must be responding in ways which have been conditioned precisely in order to reinforce the behavior of the speaker” is a restriction on the first part, and its aim is to circumscribe verbal behavior as a particular kind of social behavior. The restriction, however, is not stated clearly enough: Which ways of responding

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are these to which the listener has been conditioned? And why and how does this mediation affect the behavior of the speaker in such an important manner that it requires an analysis separate from the rest of operant behavior? : Specific conditioned behavior to create means of control (De Lourdes R. da F. Passos, 2012) Unconditioned behavior is now excluded from the prior definition. 2. Which of the following behaviors are verbal and which are not, and why: (a) bees communicating to each other the location of honey, (b) engaging in good table manners,-verbal behavior if “please” and “thankyou” when manding for desired food or items related to meal time is expressed to another person (c) the behavior of a computer,-not verbal behavior, not a living organism (d) the behavior of a computer programmer-not verbal behavior, no social audience (e) playing a game – verbal behavior if playing with another person / not verbal behavior if playing a game like Solitaire that does not require another person, (f) nursing a sick patient Involves both Verbal and Non-verbal behaviors, (g) cooking for someone- not verbal behavior, the act of cooking itself does not require social interaction or an audience/ verbal behavior if indicating to someone that food is ready (h) setting up a traffic light- not verbal behavior (if I am understanding this as the act of building a traffic light in an intersection)- the act of building does not require a listener, (i) buying something- Verbal behavior if there is an exchange with another person, such as at a cash register in a store/ Nonverbal if purchasing online or using a self-checkout machine, (j) building a house- Nonverbal unless working alongside others, in which case communication involved in building the house would be verbal., (k) driving a car- Verbal, because the signaling conveys a message to the audience (other drivers), we are conditioned to behavior certain ways through a history of learning, (l) shooing a fly- not verbal behavior, this is an unconditioned behavior in which a person is attempting to remove an aversive stimulus and does not require training , automatic behavior that the person has the instinct to do. (m) handing a person a glass of water when requested- Not verbal, but the mand for water is verbal, (n) crossing the street to avoid meeting someone you do not like, (o) dancing, (p) giving someone flowers- Verbal behavior because the reinforcement of "thank you" or a smile is either given by the listener or has been a previous reinforcement when giving flowers before., (q) giving a concert- Verbal behavior since there is an audience responding to the performance, and (r) praying-verbal behavior (audience can be God and fellow parishioners if you pray together –that could be verbal (auditory) or non-verbal (silent prayer- talking directly to God). Appendix 1. Briefly, how does Skinner account for Whitehead’s remark, “No black scorpion in falling on this table”? How does Skinner qualify his account (pp. 456-460)? Skinner proposed that Whitehead was unconsciously expressing a fear of behaviorism, likening it to a black scorpion that he would not allow to intrude into his philosophy. The skeptical reader may be forgiven for concluding that the reply owed more to psychoanalysis than to behavioral principles. Whereas other forms of communication among animals seem to be limited to a relatively small number of signals, and restricted to limited contexts, there is essentially no limit to the number of ideas or propositions that we can convey using sentences. We can immediately understand sentences made up of words that we have never heard in combination before, as Whitehead's sentence illustrates. Language also allows us to escape from the immediate present and to refer to events in other places and at other times. We can use language to fantasize, to describe events that have never existed and never will (Corballis, n.d.). Chomsky and MacCorquodale 1. What is Chomsky’s rebuttal to these chapters in Skinner?

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The book Verbal Behavior is almost entirely theoretical, involving little experimental research in the work itself . Chomsky pointed out that children acquire their first language without being explicitly or overtly "taught" in a way that would be consistent with behaviorist theory and that Skinner's theories of "operants" and behavioral reinforcements are not able to account for the fact that people can speak and understand sentences that they have never heard before. Chomsky's review indicated displeasure. It was also a clever response whose ideas are still held to esteem in psychology and whose words are repeated even today. It has two parts. The first is an extended criticism of the basic analytical process which Skinner brought to verbal behavior. So much occupies over one-half of the lengthy paper; the second part is a brief, actually rather casual, criticism of the application itself, as if the demolition of the basic explanatory system had made serious discussion of its relevance to verbal behavior excessive. It is important to note, however that Chomsky’s actual target is only about one-half Skinner, with the rest a mixture of odds and ends of other behaviorisms and some other fancies of vague origin. In spite of its length it is highly redundant; nearly Chomsky’s entire bundle of criticisms of Skinner’s basic behaviorism reduces in fact to only three. 1. Verbal Behavior Is an Untested Hypothesis 1, Which Has, Therefore, No Claim upon Our Credibility 2. Skinner’s Technical Terms Are Mere Paraphrases for More Traditional Treatments of Verbal Behavior 3. Speech Is Complex Behavior Whose Understanding and Explanation Require a Complex, Mediational, Neurological-Genetic Theory (MacCorquodale, 1970) 2. How does MacCorquodale respond to Chomsky? On Chomsky's Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior. MacCorquodale argued that Chomsky did not possess an adequate understanding of either behavioral psychology in general, or the differences between Skinner's behaviorism and other varieties. As a consequence, he argued, Chomsky made several serious errors of logic. On account of these problems, MacCorquodale maintains that the review failed to demonstrate what it has often been cited as doing, implying that those most influenced by Chomsky's paper probably already substantially agreed with him. Chomsky's review has been further argued to misrepresent the work of Skinner and others, including by taking quotes out of context.[50] Chomsky has maintained that the review was directed at the way Skinner's variant of behavioral psychology "was being used in Quinean empiricism and naturalization of philosophy". “Chomsky leaves the speaker lost in thought with nothing whatever to say.” (MacCorquodale, 1970)

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Reference Budzen, M. (n.d.). STUDYBLUE | Find and share online flashcards and notes from StudyBlue. Any subject, anywhere, anytime. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from https://www.studyblue.com/? apn_dbr=ff_36.0.4.5557 Corballis, M. (n.d.). The Gestural Origins of Language. Retrieved May 30, 2016, from http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/the-gestural-origins-of-language/1 De Lourdes R. da F. Passos, M. (2012). B. F. Skinner: The Writer and His Definition of Verbal Behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 35(1), 115–126. Goldsmith, J. (n.d.). STUDYBLUE | Find and share online flashcards and notes from StudyBlue. Any subject, anywhere, anytime. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from Retrieved May 31, 2016, from https://www.studyblue.com/?tpr=2 Heitzman-Powell, L. S., White, R., & Perrin, N. L. (2007). Behavior analysts and counseling: Why are we not there and how can we get there? International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 3(4), 571-587. doi:10.1037/h0100824 MacCorquodale, K. (1970). On Chomsky's review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1333660/ Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Unit 2 Verbal and Nonverbal Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/smithrd/UAE Communication/Unit2.pdf...