Module 8 Flashcards
autoclitic
The autoclitic relation involves two interlocking levels of verbal
behavior emitted in one utterance. One level is a primary response (e.g., “The ice
is solid”), while the other type is the secondary autoclitic response (e.g., adding
“I think”). Autoclitic behavior benefits the listener by providing additional
information regarding the primary response.
automatic contingencies
Skinner (1957) used “automatic” to identify cir
cumstances in which behavior is evoked, shaped, maintained, or weakened by
environmental variables occurring without direct manipulation by other people.
All behavioral principles (e.g., reinforcement, extinction, punishment) can affect
our behavior automatically
bidirectional naming
A higher-order verbal cusp consisting of the
fusing together of the speaker and listener repertoires in bidirectional relations
(Horne & Lowe, 1996). A new word acquired as listener can generate a tact
without further training, and a new word acquired as a tact can generate a listener
relation without further training (these effects are consistent with emergent
symmetry and mutual entailment).
codic
A type of verbal behavior where the form of the response is under the
functional control of a verbal stimulus with point-to-point correspondence, but
without formal similarity. There is also a history of generalized reinforcement.
compound verbal discrimination
Involves two or more verbal SDs
( convergent multiple control) that each independently evoke behavior, but when
they both occur in the same antecedent configuration, a different SD is generated,
and a more specific behavior is evoked.
copying text
An elementary verbal operant involving a written response that
is evoked by a written verbal discriminative stimulus that has formal similarity
and a history of generalized reinforcement.
duplic
A type of verbal behavior where the form of the response is under the
functional control of a verbal stimulus with formal similarity, and a history of
generalized reinforcement.
echoic
An elementary verbal operant involving a vocal response that is evoked
by a vocal verbal SD that has formal similarity between an auditory verbal stim
ulus and an auditory verbal response product, and a history of generalized
reinforcement.
elementary verbal operants
Michael’s (1982) term for Skinner’s (1957)
taxonomy of five different types of speaker behavior (i.e., expressive language)
distinguished by their antecedent controlling variables and related history of
consequences: mand, tact, intraverbal, duplic, and codic.
formal similarity
Occurs when the controlling antecedent stimulus and the
response or response product (a) share the same sense mode (e.g., both stimulus
and response are visual, auditory, or tactile) and (b) physically resemble each
other. Verbal relations with formal similarity are echoic, copying a text, and
imitation as it relates to sign language.
generative learning
A behavioral effect whereby previously acquired
speaker and listener skills enable or accelerate the acquisition of other speaker
and listener skills, without dependence on direct teaching or a history of
reinforcement.
intraverbal
An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked
by a verbal discriminative stimulus that does not have point-to-point correspon
dence with that verbal stimulus. The intraverbal is the opposite of the echoic,
in that the words emitted by one speaker do not match the words of another
speaker. Intraverbal behavior constitutes the basis for social interaction, conver
sations, and much of academic and intellectual behavior. Questions are mands,
and answers are intraverbal.
listener
Someone who provides reinforcement for a speaker’s verbal behav
ior. A listener may also serve as an audience evoking verbal behavior. The
distinction between listener and speaker is often blurred by the fact that much
of a listener’s behavior may involve becoming a speaker at the covert level
(e.g., thinking about what was said). A speaker may also serve as her own
listener.
listener discrimination
When verbal SD evokes a specific nonverbal
behavior, due to a history of reinforcement.
mand
An elementary verbal operant involving a response of any form that is
evoked by an MO and followed by specific reinforcement. Manding allows a
speaker to get what she wants or refuse what she does not want.
motor imitation (relating to sign language)
A type of duplic verbal
behavior in which the form of a motor response is under the functional control
of a visual verbal SD that has formal similarity between a verbal stimulus and a
verbal response product, and a history of generalized reinforcement.
multiple control
There are two types of multiple
control. Convergent multiple control occurs when a single verbal response is a
function of more than one variable (i.e., what is said has more than one antecedent
source of control). Divergent multiple control occurs when a single antecedent
variable affects the strength of more than one response.
point-to-point correspondence
A relation between the stimulus and
response or response product that occurs when the beginning, middle, and end
of the verbal stimulus matches the beginning, middle, and end of the verbal
response. The verbal relations with point-to-point correspondence are echoic,
copying text, imitation as it relates to sign language, textual, and transcription.
private events
Covert events typically accessible only to the person expe
riencing them. Skinner’s radical behaviorism holds three major assumptions
about private events: (a) private events are behavior; (b) behavior that takes
place within the skin is distinguished from other (“public”) behavior only by its
inaccessibility; and (c) private behavior is influenced by (i.e., is a function of)
the same kinds of variables as publicly accessible behavior.
selection-based (SB) verbal behavior
A category of verbal behavior in which the
speaker points to or selects a particular stimulus; what is conveyed to the listener
is the information on the stimulus selected.
simple verbal discrimination
A single-component word or phrase evokes
a nonmatching intraverbal response
speaker
Someone who engages in verbal behavior by emitting mands, tacts,
intraverbals, autoclitics, etc. A speaker is also someone who uses sign lan
guage, gestures, signals, written words, codes, pictures, or any form of verbal
behavior.
tact
An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by a
nonverbal discriminative stimulus and followed by generalized conditioned rein
forcement. Tacting allows a speaker to identify or describe the features of the
physical environment. The elements that make up one’s physical environment
are vast; thus, much of language instruction and educational programs focus
on teaching tacts.
tact extension
Once a tact has been established, the tact response can occur
under novel stimulus conditions through the process of stimulus generalization.
Skinner (1957) identifies four different levels of generalization based on the
degree to which a novel stimulus shares the relevant or defining features of the
original stimulus. The four types of tact extension are generic, metaphorical,
metonymical, and solecistic.
taking dictation
An elementary verbal operant involving a spoken verbal
stimulus that evokes a written, typed, or fingerspelled response that does not
have formal similarity between the stimulus and the response, but does have
point-to-point correspondence and a history of generalized reinforcement.
