About Behaviorism, Chapter 6: Verbal Behavior, Quote 8

“A characteristic feature of verbal behavior, directly attributable to special contingencies of reinforcement is abstraction. It is the listener, not the speaker, who takes practical action with respect to the stimuli controlling a verbal response, and as a result the behavior of the speaker may come under the control of properties of a stimulus to which no practical response is appropriate.” (p. 104)

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