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| International Paper Session - Concepts in Verbal Behavior |
| Saturday, May 26, 2007 |
| 4:00 PM–4:50 PM |
| Elizabeth A |
| Area: VBC |
| Chair: William F. Potter (California State University, Stanislaus) |
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| How to Read Skinner's Verbal Behavior. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| WILLIAM F. POTTER (California State University, Stanislaus), Andrea Duroy (California State University, Stanislaus), Deborah L. Brown (Stanislaus County Office of Education) |
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| Abstract: While considered one of Skinner's most important works, Verbal Behavior is a difficult book to read, especially as an individual effort. This presentation will examine methods to facilitate reading the book. |
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| Distinctive Properties of Verbal Operants and Some Consequences for Their Functional Analysis. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| MARIA DE LOURDES RODRIGUE DE FONSECA PASSOS (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) |
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| Abstract: Verbal behavior is operant behavior whose consequences are produced through the mediation of a listener who was conditioned by a verbal community according to conventional practices in that specific community. The properties or dimensions of non-verbal operant behavior are related to the effects it produces in the environment through mechanical and geometric principles, while the properties or dimensions of operant verbal behavior are related in a conventional way to the effects it produces in the listener.
The fact that the practices through which verbal behavior is reinforced by the listener are specific for each community is related to what linguists call the arbitrariness or conventionality of the linguistic sign, as well as of the whole system of the language.
The contingencies established in procedures of experimental research in verbal behavior include these conventional practices, which adds specific challenges to behavior analysts as, for example, the difficulty on mastering the literature in the field due to the existence of several different conventional practices, as well as the need for interdisciplinary work, incorporating linguists’ descriptions of these practices to experimental designs. |
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