PSY 674
Study Guide 2.1
A. Generalized conditioned reinforcement
1. Explain the 2 ways in which a verbal response can be made relatively independent
of motivational operations, and thus brought under almost exclusive control of a
prior or current discriminative stimulus (pp. 53-55).
2. What is generalized conditioned reinforcement? How does it differ from ordinary
conditioned reinforcement? What role does it play in Skinner’s approach to
verbal behavior? (p. 53-54).
3. Describe some examples of verbal behavior reinforced by generalized conditioned
reinforcement (pp. 53-55). Why, by definition, would such responses not be
mands?
B. Echoic behavior
1. Define and give examples of echoic behavior (p. 55-56).
2. What are the advantages an echoic repertoire to teachers and speakers (pp. 5658)?
3. Describe how Skinner defines automatic reinforcement. Why is such behavior
not echoic? (p. 58). Why is repeating what someone said yesterday not echoic,
according to Skinner? (p. 59).
4. Interpret the following remark: “Echoic behavior does not depend upon or
demonstrate any instinct or faculty of imitation” (pp. 59-60)
5. Discuss the issues involved in determining the smallest unit of echoic behavior
(pp. 63-64).
6. What is self-echoic behavior? How is it explained? Why is it difficult to
demonstrate? (pp. 64-65)
C. Textual
1. What is textual behavior? What reinforces textual behavior? (pp. 66-67)
2. Identify and comment on the important differences between echoic and textual
behavior, specifically with respect to (a) the manner in which each is acquired,
and (b) their smallest functional units (pp. 67-69).
D. Transcriptive behavior
1. Define transcriptive behavior and its two forms. (p. 69-71).
2. Compare and contrast the minimal unit that usually develops in echoic behavior
(pp. 63-64) with that of the two types of transcriptive behavior (pp. 69-71).
E. Intraverbal behavior
1. Define intraverbal behavior. Identify some of the sources of reinforcement for
intraverbal behavior (pp. 74-75).
2. What does Skinner mean when he says that the more complex the stimulus
patterns, the stronger the control over a single response? (p. 76) Provide an
original example of this.
3. Why does Skinner believe Jung’s system for classifying word associations is of
little value in analyzing intraverbal behavior? (pp. 74-75)
4. Interpret the following statement: “…there is no minimal repertoire similar to that
which approaches mimicry in echoic behavior or permits the skilled reader to
pronounce a new word in a text.” (p. 76)
5. Explain how translation from a new to an old language is similar to the early
stages of reading. (p. 77)
6. What does Skinner mean when he says that a “translator may not react to his own
behavior as a listener at all? (p. 77)
7. The fact that it is sometimes possible for a skillful bilingual speaker to translate
readily from one language to another is often said to show the need for such
concept as “idea” or “proposition.” Explain why Skinner rejects such
“explanations.” What possible alternative does he offer? (p. 78).
F. Dynamic properties of verbal behavior under the control of verbal stimuli
1. Explain why verbal behavior under the control of verbal stimuli and generalized
reinforcement often does not show much dynamic variation in speed or energy of
response.(pp. 78-79)
2. What variables might produce such dynamic variation in this type of behavior? (p.
79)
G. Meaning of verbal responses made to verbal stimuli
1. Why are verbal responses under the control of verbal stimuli dismissed as
unimportant or trivial in traditional accounts of language? What is Skinner’s view
of this practice? (pp. 79-80)
Objectives:
Definition of generalized conditioned reinforcement
Role of generalized conditioned reinforcement in verbal behavior
Echoic behavior
What does not count as echoic behavior
Some advantages of echoic behavior
Automatic reinforcement
Textual behavior
Taking diction (transcription)
Copying a text (transcription)
Intraverbal behavior
From Michael (1982)
Point-to-point correspondence
Formal correspondence
Codic behavior
Duplic behavior