B. F. Skinner’s Analysis of
Verbal Behavior
Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D., BCBA
(www.marksundberg.com)
Alfred North Whitehead and
“No Black Scorpion”
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We dropped into a discussion of behaviorism which was then still
very much an “ism” and of which I was a zealous devotee [1934].
Here was an opportunity which I could not overlook to strike a
blow for the cause....Whitehead... agreed that science might be
successful in accounting for human behavior provided one made
an exception of verbal behavior. Here, he insisted something else
must be at work. He brought the discussion to a close with a
friendly challenge: “Let me see you,” he said “account for my
behavior as I sit here saying ‘No black scorpion is falling upon
this table.’” The next morning I drew up the outline of the present
study (Skinner, 1957, p. 457).
What is Language?
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What constitutes “Language?”
How do we talk about it?
How do we measure it?
What are its parts?
How do we assess it?
How do we teach it?
There are many different theories of language.
Theories of Language
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In Chapter 1 of Verbal Behavior Skinner presents the various
linguistic theories
Linguistic theory can be classified into three general, and often
overlapping views: biological, cognitive, and environmental
Proponents of the biological view (e.g., Chomsky, 1965; Pinker,
1994) argue that language is innate to humans and primarily a
result of physiological processes and functions, and that language
has little to do with environmental variables, such as reinforcement
and stimulus control
Brain------->Words, phrases, sentences
Nature vs. nurture
No current applications of Chomsky or Pinker to autism
Theories of Language
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Cognitive psychologists argue that language is controlled by internal
cognitive processing systems that accept, classify, code, encode, and
store verbal information (e.g., Brown, 1973; Piaget, 1926; Slobin,
1973), and language has less to do with environmental variables,
such as reinforcement and stimulus control
Language is viewed as receptive and expressive, and the two are
referred to as communicative behavior that is controlled by cognitive
processors
Cognition------>Words
Cognitive theory, and its receptive-expressive framework dominates
the current language assessment and intervention programs for
children with autism
How is Language Measured in a
Traditional Linguistic Analysis?
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The focus is on response forms, topography, and structure
Phonemes
Morphemes
Lexicon
Syntax
Grammar
Semantics
Mean length of utterances (MLU); words, phrases, sentences
Classification system: nouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives,
adverbs, etc.
Skinner’s (1957) Book
Verbal Behavior
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Chapter 1 of Verbal Behavior is titled “A Functional Analysis of
Verbal Behavior”
Etymological sanctions and terminology in VB
Language is learned behavior under the functional control of
environmental contingencies
“What happens when a man speaks or responds to speech is clearly
a question about human behavior and hence a question to be
answered with the concepts and techniques of psychology as an
experimental science of behavior” (Skinner, 1957, p. 5)
Skinner’s (1957) Book
Verbal Behavior
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Definition of verbal behavior: “Behavior reinforced through the
mediation of other persons” (who are trained to do so)
A distinction between the speaker and the listener (“The total
verbal episode”). The speaker and listener can be in the same skin
Form and function
“Our first responsibility is simple description: what is the
topography of this subdivision of human behavior? Once that
question has been answered in at least a preliminary fashion we
may advance to the stage called explanation: what conditions are
relevant to the occurrences of the behavior--what are the variables
of which it is a function?” (p. 10).
Skinner’s (1957) Book
Verbal Behavior
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The analysis of verbal behavior involves the same behavioral
principles and concepts that make up the analysis of nonverbal
behavior. No new principles of behavior are required. There are
some new terms
In Chapter 2 of VB Skinner presents the independent and
dependent variables of verbal behavior
A Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior:
The Basic Principles of Operant Behavior
Stimulus Control (SD)
Motivating Operation (MO/EO)
Response
Reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction
Conditioned reinforcement
Conditioned punishment
Intermittent reinforcement
Skinner’s (1957) Book
Verbal Behavior
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“Technically, meanings are to be found among the independent
variables in a functional account rather than as properties of the
dependent variable” (p. 14)
What constitutes a “unit of verbal behavior?” (sounds, words,
phrases, sentences)
“...a response of identifiable form functionally related to one or
more independent variables” (p. 20)
In Chapter 2 of VB Skinner also presents a VB research
methodology and suggests several advantages of using his analysis
of verbal behavior as a foundation for language research
Skinner’s (1957) Book
Verbal Behavior
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A common misconception about Skinner’s analysis of verbal
behavior is that he rejects the traditional classification of language
However, it is not the traditional classification or description of the
response he finds fault with, it is the failure to account for the
causes or functions of the verbs, nouns, sentences, etc.
The analysis of how and why one says words is typically relegated
to the field of psychology combined with linguistics; hence the
field of “psycholinguistics”
Skinner noted that “A science of behavior does not arrive at this
special field to find it unoccupied” (p. 3)
How is Language Measured in a
Behavioral Analysis?
The verbal operant is the unit of analysis
(e.g., mands, tacts, & intraverbals)
MO/SD
Response
Consequence
Skinner’s Analysis of
Verbal Behavior
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The traditional linguistic classification of words, sentences, and
phrases as expressive and receptive language blends important
functional distinctions among types of operant behavior, and appeals
to cognitive explanations for the causes of language behavior
(Skinner, 1957, Chapters 1 & 2)
In Chapters 3-5 of Verbal Behavior Skinner presents the
“elementary verbal operants”
Skinner’s Analysis of
Verbal Behavior
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At the core of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior is the distinction
between the mand, tact, and intraverbal (traditionally all classified
as “expressive language”)
Skinner identified three separate sources of antecedent control for
these verbal operants
EO/MO control------->Mand
Nonverbal SD--------->Tact
Verbal SD-------------->Intraverbal
Established body of empirical support for this distinction (Sautter &
LeBlanc, 2006)
The Behavioral Classification
of Language
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Four of the verbal operants…
Mand: Asking for reinforcers. Asking for “Mommy” because
a child wants his mommy
Tact: Naming or identifying objects, actions, events, etc.
Saying “Mommy” because a child sees his Mommy
Echoic: Repeating what is heard. Saying “Mommy” after
someone else says “Mommy”
Intraverbal: Answering questions or having conversations
where the speaker’s words are controlled by other words.
Saying “Mommy” because someone else says “Daddy and...”
The Distinction Between the
Mand and the Tact
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Based on the distinction between the establishing operation
(EO/MO) and stimulus control (SD) as separate sources of control
Skinnerian psychology (“radical behaviorism,” see Skinner, 1974)
has always maintained that motivational control is different from
stimulus control
In Behavior of Organisms (Skinner, 1938) Skinner devoted two
chapters to the treatment of motivation; Chapter 9 titled “Drive”
and Chapter 10 titled “Drive and Conditioning: The Interaction of
Two Variables”
Skinner also made it clear in the section titled “Drive (is) Not a
Stimulus” (pp. 374-376) that motivation is not the same as
discriminative, unconditioned, or conditioned stimuli
The Distinction Between the
Mand and the Tact
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Keller and Schoenfeld (1950) titled Chapter 9 “Motivation” and
further developed Skinner’s point, “A drive is not a stimulus” (p.
276), and suggested “a new descriptive term... ‘establishing
operation’” (p. 271)
In Science and Human Behavior (1953) Skinner devoted three
chapters to motivation: Chapter 9: “Deprivation and Satiation,”
Chapter 10: “Emotion,” and Chapter 11: “Aversion, Avoidance,
Anxiety”
In Verbal Behavior (1957) Skinner had a full chapter on motivation
and language (The Mand), and throughout the book provided many
elaborations on motivational control -- as an antecedent variable
Motivative Operations (MO) and
Stimulus Control (SD)
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The definition (Michael, 2007) of an MO: (a) an environmental
event that increases the momentary effectiveness of anything as
a form of reinforcement, and (b) increases the frequency of any
behavior that has been followed by that form of reinforcement
in the past
The definition (Michael, 1982) of stimulus control (SD): a
particular stimulus that evokes a particular behavior due to a
history of reinforcement
MO: SR/Sr are effective (Do you want it now?)
SD: SR/Sr are available (Can you get it now?)
See Martinez-Diaz (2006) for an excellent PowerPoint tutorial
on the distinction between the SD and MO
The Mand Relation
MO/EO
Child wants the Dora video
Response
“Dora”
Specific
Reinforcement
“Here it is”
Examples of Mands
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Mine!
I want my mommy!
Come on.
Go away.
Open it.
Who is that?
How does this work?
Are we there yet?
How is an MO different from an SD?
How do you know if these are mands?
The Importance of the Mand
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Mands are the first type of verbal behavior acquired by typical
children
Manding allows a child to get what he wants, when it is
wanted
Manding allows a child to get rid of what he does NOT want,
when it is not wanted
A parent or caretaker is paired with the delivery of
reinforcement related to a mand
The Importance of the Mand
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Manding brings about desired changes or conditions
Manding allows a child to control the social
environment
Manding is the only verbal operant that directly
benefits the speaker
Manding training can decrease negative behaviors that
serve the mand function
The Importance of the Mand
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Mand training helps to establish speaker as well as
listener rolls
For early learners, mands do not emerge by training on
the other verbal operants
Mand trials can be used as reinforcers for other forms of
verbal behavior
Manding is essential for social interaction
The Importance of the Mand
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Manding allows a speaker to acquire new information
and new forms of verbal behavior
Neglect of the mand can impair language development
Neglect of the mand can result in emotional impairment
Excessive manding is a burden on the listener
Issues Concerning Motivative
Operations (MOs) and Mands
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All mands are controlled by motivating operations
There must be an MO at strength to conduct mand training
MOs vary in strength across time, and the effects may be
temporary
MOs must be either captured or contrived to conduct mand
training
MOs may have an instant or gradual onset or offset
Issues Concerning Motivative
Operations (MOs) and Mands
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High response requirement may weaken an MO
Instructors must be able to identify the presence and strength of
an MO
Instructors must be able to reduce existing negative behavior
controlled by MOs
Instructors must know how to bring verbal behavior under the
control of MOs
The Tact Relation
Nonverbal
SD
Child sees a poster of Dora
Response
“Dora”
Generalized
Reinforcement
“It is Dora”
The Tact Relation
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Tacts are always under nonverbal stimulus control
Nonverbal discriminative stimuli involve:
“nothing less than the whole of the physical environment--the
world of things and events which a speaker is said to “talk about.”
Verbal behavior under the control of such stimuli is so important that
it is often dealt with exclusively in the study of language and in
theories of meaning” (Skinner, 1957, p. 81).
Nonverbal stimuli can be, for example, static (nouns), transitory
(verbs), relations between objects (prepositions), properties of
objects (adjectives), or properties of actions (adverbs)
The Tact Relation
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Different sense modes (“contact with the physical environment”)
Tacts can be controlled by nonverbal discriminative stimuli arising
from, for example, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile,
kinisthetic, pain, and chemo receptors
In order for a nonverbal stimulus to become a discriminative
stimulus for a tact there must be some process of operant
conditioning
The consequences for the tact involve generalized conditioned
reinforcement
Examples of Tacts
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There’s mommy
It’s a car
He laughing
I see red
I feel sick
That is a 57 Chevy
That’s inappropriate behavior
Those guys are fast
Were going up
I smell gas
What would it take to make these same responses mands?
The Echoic Relation
Verbal SD
W/pt-pt correspondence
Response
Formal similarity
Child hears “Dora”
“Dora”
Generalized
Reinforcement
“Right”
The Echoic Relation
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Verbal stimulus control: “Product of someone’s verbal behavior
functions as a discriminative stimulus” (Michael, 1982)
Point -to-point correspondence: “subdivisions or parts of the
stimulus control subdivisions or parts of the response” (Michael,
1982)
Formal similarity: “the controlling stimulus and the response
product are (1) in the same sense mode (both are visual, or both are
auditory, or both are tactile, etc.) and (2) resemble each other in the
physical sense of resemblance” (Michael, 1982, p. 2)”
The Echoic Relation
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Motor Imitation Motor imitation can have the same verbal
properties as echoic behavior, as demonstrated by its role in the
acquisition of sign language by children who are deaf
Copying-a-text also has the same defining properties as the echoic
Michael (1982) suggested the term “duplic” for these three verbal
relations
The consequences for the echoic involve generalized conditioned
reinforcement
The ability to echo the phonemes and words of others is essential for
learning to identify objects and actions
The echoic consists of a “minimal repertoire”
The Intraverbal Relation
Verbal SD
W/o pt-pt correspondence
Response
W/o Formal similarity
Child hears “Who is your
favorite doll?”
“Dora”
Generalized
Reinforcement
“Of course!”
The Intraverbal Relation
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NO Point -to-point correspondence: The verbal stimulus and the
verbal response do not match each other, as they do in the echoic
relation.
NO Formal similarity: the controlling stimulus and the response
product can be in the the same or different sense modes and DO
NOT resemble each other in the physical sense of resemblance
Like all verbal operants except the mand, the consequences for the
intraverbal involve generalized conditioned reinforcement (Skinner
also uses “non-specific reinforcement,” “educational reinforcement,”
and “contiguous usage” to identify the consequences for the
intraverbal
The Intraverbal Relation
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Verbal behavior evoked by other non-matching verbal behavior
It prepares a speaker to behave rapidly and accurately with respect to
verbal stimulation, and plays an important role in continuing a
conversation
There is a huge variation in speaker’s intraverbal repertoires,
especially when compared to the mand and the tact
Typical adult speakers have hundreds of thousands of intraverbal
relations as a part of their verbal repertoires
An intraverbal repertoire allows a speaker to answer questions and to
talk about (and think about) objects and events that are not physically
present
What is Intraverbal Behavior?
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An intraverbal repertoire facilitates the acquisition of other
verbal and nonverbal behavior
Intraverbal behavior is a critical part of many important aspects
of human behavior such as social interactions, intellectual
behavior, memory, thinking, problem solving, creativity,
academic behavior, history, and entertainment
Examples of Intraverbal Behavior
Emitted by Children
Verbal Stimulus
Twinkle twinkle little...
A kitty says...
Mommy and...
Knife, fork and...
What do you like to eat?
What’s your favorite movie?
Can you name some animals?
What’s your brother’s name?
Where do you go to school?
Verbal Response
Star
Meow
Daddy
Spoon
Pizza!
Sponge Bob Square Pants!
Dog, cat, and horse
Charlie
Harvest Park
Examples of Adult Intraverbal Behavior
Verbal Stimulus
How are you?
What’s your name?
Where do you live?
What do you do?
What is ABA?
What do I do about SIB?
Should I attend Dr. Iwata’s talk?
Is there research to support ABA?
Verbal Response
I am fine.
Mark
Concord, CA
I’m a behavior analyst...
B F. Skinner...
The first step...
Yes, Dr Iwata...
Yes, there is...
How is the Intraverbal Relation Different
from the Mand, Tact, & Echoic?
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Antecedent
Motivation (EO)
Nonverbal SD
Verbal SD
with a match
Verbal SD
without a match
Behavior
Consequence
Mand
Tact
Echoic
Specific reinf.
Social reinf.
Social reinf.
Intraverbal
Social reinf.
The Behavior of the Listener
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A major theme in Verbal Behavior is the focus on the speaker, rather
than the listener. Skinner (1978) pointed out that:
“linguists and psycholinguists are primarily concerned with the
behavior of the listener--with what words mean to those who hear
them and with what kind of sentences are judged grammatical or
ungrammatical. The very concept of communication--whether of
ideas, meanings, or information--emphasizes transmission to a
listener. So far as I am concerned, however, very little of the
behavior of the listener is worth distinguishing as verbal (p. 122).”
The Behavior of the Listener
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Skinner (1957) also notes that:
“The traditional conception of verbal behavior discussed in Chapter
1 has generally implied that certain basic linguistic processes were
common to both speaker and listener. Common processes are
suggested when language is said to arouse in the mind of the listener
“ideas present in the mind of the speaker,” or when communication
is regarded as successful only if an expression has “the same
meaning for both speaker and listener.” Theories of meaning are
usually applied to both speaker and listener as if the meaning
process were the same for both. Much of the behavior of the
listener has no resemblance to the behavior of the speaker and is not
verbal according to our definition” (p. 33)
The Behavior of the Listener
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The listener plays a critical role in consequating a speaker’s behavior
Attention (e.g., eye contact, body position)
Social reinforcement (head nods, praise, body positions)
Mediator of reinforcement (e.g., responding to the mands of
speakers by getting things, opening doors, and other nonverbal
behavior)
Social punishment (e.g., frowns, head nods, body position, look
away)
Extinction (e.g., ignore)
The listener is also an SD and an MO for a speaker’s behavior
Skinner devotes a full chapter to this role of the listener as an
“audience” for verbal behavior (1957, chap. 7)
The Behavior of the Listener
“The listener, as an essential part of the situation in which
verbal behavior is observed, is again a discriminative
stimulus. He is part of an occasion upon which verbal
behavior is reinforced and he 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” (p. 172).
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The Behavior of the Listener
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When a speaker talks to a listener verbal stimuli are emitted that are
discriminative stimuli
The question is what are the effects of verbal SDs on listener behavior?
Skinner (1957, p. 277-280) identifies two main effects of verbal SDs:
Verbal stimuli evoke specific nonverbal behavior, and they evoke
specific verbal behavior
When verbal stimuli evoke nonverbal behavior the behaver is still
functioning as a listener, but is differentially discriminating among
verbal stimuli (commonly called receptive language, RFFC)
“The listener can be said to understand a speaker if he simply behaves
in an appropriate fashion” (p. 277).
The Behavior of the Listener
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A verbal discriminative stimulus can also evoke echoic, textual,
transcriptive, or intraverbal behavior on the part on a listener.
However, if this occurs, the listener becomes a speaker, which is
Skinner’s point that “in many important instances the listener is
behaving at the same time as a speaker” (p. 33, footnote)
The most significant and complex responses to verbal stimuli occur
when they evoke covert intraverbal behavior from a listener (who by
definition, is now a speaker who serves as his own audience)
Skinner devotes a full chapter to the topic of “thinking” in Science
and Human Behavior (1953, chap. 16), Verbal Behavior (1957,
Chap. 19) and About Behaviorism (1974, chap. 7), and he has several
sections dedicated to the topic of “understanding,” (e.g., pp. 277280; Skinner 1974, 141-142)
Listener Discrimination
Verbal
SD
“Get the Dora video”
Response
Child’s selects Dora video
Generalized
Reinforcement
“That’s it!”
The Textual Relation
Verbal SD
W/pt-pt correspondence
Response
W/o Formal similarity
Child sees “Dora” written
“Dora”
Generalized
Reinforcement
“Right”
The Textual Relation
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Verbal stimulus control
Point-to-point correspondence
No formal similarity: The controlling stimulus and the response product are not in
the same sense mode and do not resemble each other
The Transcriptive Relation
Verbal SD
W/pt-pt correspondence
Response
W/o Formal similarity
Child hears “Dora” spoken
Writes “Dora”
Generalized
Reinforcement
“Right”
The Transcriptive Relation
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Verbal stimulus control
Point-to-point correspondence
No formal similarity: The controlling stimulus and the response product are not in the
same sense mode and do not resemble each other
Verbal Extensions
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Generalization
“If a response is reinforced upon a given occasion or class of
occasions, any feature of that occasion or common to that class
appears to gain some measure of control” (p. 91)
A novel stimulus possessing one such feature may evoke a
response (p. 91)
There are several ways in which a novel stimulus may
resemble a stimulus previously present when a response was
reinforced, and hence there are several types of what we may
call “extended tacts” (p. 91).
Verbal Extensions
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Skinner distinguished between four types of extended tacts
generic, metaphoric, metonymic, and solistic
The distinction is based on the degree to which a novel
stimulus shares the relevant or irrelevant features of the
original stimulus
In generic extension, the novel stimulus shares all of the
relevant or defining features of the original stimulus.
In metaphorical extension the novel stimulus shares some,
but not all of the relevant features of the original stimulus
Metonymical extensions involve responses to novel stimuli
that have none of the relevant features of the original stimulus
configuration, but some irrelevant but related feature has
acquired stimulus control
Verbal Extensions
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Finally, a solistic extension occurs when
“ The property which gains control of the response is only
distantly related to the defining properties upon which standard
reinforcements are contingent or is similar to that property for
irrelevant reasons....Most verbal communities not only fail to
respond effectively to such extensions but provide some sort of
punishment for them” (p. 102)
Multiple Control
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Parts I and II of the book Verbal Behavior provide the reader
with the defining features of the elementary verbal operants
and many examples of these operants
Parts III, IV, and V focus on how to use these operants to
analyze complex verbal behavior
Any given sample of verbal behavior, especially those
involving verbal exchanges between speakers and listeners,
contains a multitude of functional relations between
antecedents, behavior, and consequences
The functional units of echoic, mands, tacts, intraverbals, and
textual relations form the foundation of a verbal behavior
analysis
Multiple Control
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“Two facts emerge from our survey of the basic functional
relations: (1) the strength of a single response may be, and
usually is, a function of more than one variable, and (2) a
single variable usually affects more than one response” (1957,
p. 227)
Michael (2003) identifies conditions where the strength of a
single verbal response is a function more than one variable as
“convergent multiple control.”
Convergent multiple control can be observed in almost all
instances of verbal behavior.
MOs, nonverbal stimuli, and verbal stimuli frequently share
antecedent control over verbal behavior
Multiple Control
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Convergent multiple control
SD
SD
SD
SD
MO
R
Multiple Control
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The second type of multiple control identified by Skinner
occurs when a single antecedent variable affects the strength of
more than just one response
“Just as a given stimulus word will evoke a large number of
different responses from a sample of the population at large, it
increases the probability of emission of many responses in a
single speaker” (p. 227)
Michael (2003) identifies this type of control “divergent
multiple control”
Multiple Control
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Divergent multiple control
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SD/MO
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R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
Thank You!
For an electronic version of this
presentation visit:
www.marksundberg.com