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Skinner’s Verbal Behavior may be a difficult read for some. The content is complex but unpacks all aspects of verbal behavior. One can gain a lot of insight from his book if completely understanding it. In part 1 of this analysis, Mark Sundberg explains how language is typically measured and how Skinner suggests language should be measured, and in what units to measure it.

“Skinner’s work is squarely within the tradition of Humanistic Philosophy. This is accurate despite the objections of others. What we know of as Behavior Analysis is much more in keeping with Humanistic Philosophy and Skinner’s place should not be argued.” 

“When I was in university, I asked my professor, ‘How do I teach language skills to kids?” and my professor gave me Skinner’s Verbal Behavior book. So, the answer is not exactly in the book, but it is ultimately in the book”

Verbal behavior is a topic that is most associated with a clinical setting. One of the main targets for clinicians, particularly for early intervention, is teaching mands (likely related to snacks or iPads), tacts, and intraverbals. However, the concepts of verbal behavior are present in everyday interactions and impact how we communicate with others.

“Really what we’re looking at here is trying to apply our science in the most ethical way possible.” Bobby Newman PhD, BCBA-D, LBA 

Very few books are celebrated on their 50th or 60th anniversary. Dr. Henry Schlinger makes the case for why Verbal Behavior is one of those books. Skinner himself noted that “It will, I believe, prove to be my most important work” (Skinner, 1977, p. 379). The story of how this book came to be is almost as complex as the topic itself.

If you have ever worked with vocal-verbal humans, it would be no surprise to hear the differences in complexity between two speakers. B.F. Skinner developed and produced Verbal Behavior attempting to provide a thorough functional account of language that has proved to be imperative in teaching basic verbal operants. However, refinements for more complex behavior may be useful.

Discusses the meaning of the term analysis both generally and within behavior analysis.

Understanding rules and rule-governed behavior has been a pervasive conceptual issue in behavior analysis since Skinner’s initial analysis in his book, Verbal Behavior (1957). Since then the exact function of rules and verbal stimuli has been a point of conjecture. In this course, Dr. Hank Schlinger, BCBA-D, provides a detailed overview of the history of the analysis of rules and provides a contemporary perspective on rule-governed behavior informed by Blakely and Schlinger (1987a, 1987b).

The distinction between public and private is by no means the same as that between physical and mental. B.F. Skinner 

“Sometimes the phenomena of interest are not presently observed, and this is especially true with human behavior. Many people are interested in love, feelings, thinking, perceiving, and remembering, and those are things which are not presently observed. So, the problem that faces us is how do we deal with these phenomena that aren’t presently observed?

To train or not to train, what should you do? This lecture takes a behavior analytic perspective of instructional design. Dr. Bucklin overviews the common assumptions of instructional designs and which ones are true or false. Upon review of the assumptions, Dr. Bucklin describes Skinner’s contribution to instructional design. Dr. Bucklin then describes the identification of whether training is appropriate and the important principles to use for effective instructional design. She ends the lecture on how to ensure maintenance of training.

“The heart of behavior analysis, the heart of the mission Skinner set us on, to bring to the world the notion that the environment plays a tremendous role in the determination of behavior.” 

“Reinforcement is a verbal operant. Our challenge is to identify which verbal operant it is at any given time.” Hank Schlinger Jr, PhD, BCBA-D

Ogden Lindsley was one of Skinner’s students and wanted to use behavior analysis from the lab to help people. This is how Precision Teaching (PT) was born: as a combination of rate of response and cumulative response recording. Precision Teaching holds the same values as ABA, with a focus on only observable behavior and using data to guide decision making while also having learners interpret their own performance data as well.