On January 4, 2016, the B. F. Skinner Foundation launched a new project – Skinner’s Quote of the Day. Quotes from B. F. Skinner’s works, selected by renowned scientists, appear daily Monday-Friday in order, starting with Chapter 1 of each book and running all the way through the last chapter. We started with the Science and Human Behavior (January-December 2916), followed by About Behaviorism (January-November 2017), Contingencies of Reinforcement (January-October 2018), Recent Issues (October 2018-May 2019), Reflections on Behaviorism and Society (May 2019-February 2020), and now moving on to Upon Further Reflection (from February 10 2020).
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Self-prompts. Verbal stimuli are commonly used as formal prompts. A shopper may search for an appropriate verbal stimulus by going down a list of reminders of things to buy. A…
When a speaker is unable to name an object correctly or describe it adequately, he may find it useful simply to improve his contact with it. (p. 405)
... in finding something to say to fill an embarrassing pause, we cast about for a stimulus—the weather is usually available—and respond to it. “Casting about” is the sort of…
Much of the behavior emitted upon any occasion “just grows”—it springs from the current changing environment and from other verbal behavior in progress. (p. 403)
Various neuroses, not to say psychoses, have been said to be alleviated by an exhausting logorrhea. But it does not follow that if “talking it out” is followed by relief,…
Because of punishment, incipient stages of behavior often produce conditioned aversive stimuli which evoke emotional reactions, mainly anxiety. The punishment of strong behavior may result in repeated automatic aversive stimuli…
Behavior which is emitted often changes the conditions responsible for its strength . . . Unemitted behavior cannot, of course, do this. Since conditions which make verbal behavior strong are…
Incipient stages of behavior which has been punished generate aversive stimuli, and possibly the concomitant emotional effect called anxiety, and the speaker escapes from these and avoids punishment by “doing…
A bosom friend may serve in place of a psychiatrist. (p. 399)
A symbolic response is metaphorical; but where the metaphor is often useful because a nonmetaphorical response is lacking, the symbolic response emerges because a nonsymbolic response is subject to punishment.…
The “confidant” is a nonpunishing audience—any sympathetic person to whom one may speak with less fear of punishment than to listeners at random. The psychotherapist usually establishes himself as a…
The Judaeo-Christian “conscience,” like the Freudian superego, represents an inner controlling mechanism concerned with the automatic self punishment conditioned by the punishments meted out by society. (pp. 394-395)
A stimulus may be effective enough to evoke a response although the relationship between the two cannot be identified. When we say He reminds me of so-and-so, but I don’t…
Controlling variables are commonly overlooked in literary borrowing ... . When it is inferred that the writer is aware of the source but, by not mentioning it, takes credit for…
Some verbal environments do not demand much self-descriptive behavior, while others produce the familiar “introspective” person. (p. 385)
If editing is to occur, the speaker must react as a listener to his own behavior. If he cannot do so, he cannot edit. (p. 384)
The automatic reinforcement of verbal behavior also plays a role in the process of editing. If the subvocal test reveals simply that a response generates no conditioned aversive stimulation, the…
The processes of editing generated by punishment greatly increase the appropriateness of verbal behavior to all features of an occasion, including the audience. Unfortunately, however, the consequences are not always…
If all one’s verbal responses were invariably reinforced, one would be almost constantly occupied with verbal behavior. (p. 380)
It is sometimes necessary . . . to regard “doing nothing” as a response if it has identifiable reinforcing consequences. (p. 379)
The rhetorical device called “paraleipsis” consists of emitting a response together with an autoclitic which asserts that the response is not being emitted: I will not mention the obvious lack…
One form of editing which involves an obvious process of review and revision consists of emitting the response but qualifying it with an autoclitic which reduces the threat of punishment…
In general, symbolic behavior lacks the punishable properties of the unsymbolic counterpart but retains properties which are positively reinforcing. (p. 377)
There are many reasons ... why behavior drops below the level of scope or energy at which it affects the surrounding world, but much behavior is covert simply because it…
When passing a litter of pigs while walking with a friend, a sudden inquiry about the friend’s children is scarcely apropos. (p. 375)
Verbal behavior may be automatically self-punishing. The names of disliked persons and responses appropriate to embarrassing, dangerous, or gruesome episodes generate punishing consequences in the process of being emitted. (p.…
The deficient control in the impure tact—lying, exaggerating, wishful thinking, and so on—invokes punishment in most communities. (pp. 373-374)
Certain properties of responses are aversive to others and likely to bring punishment. Among these are too loud a voice, a rasping tone, undue sibilance, heavy alliteration, singsong, and such…
Verbal behavior may be objectionable to the listener simply as noise. Punishment for this reason usually drives the verbal behavior of children to the covert level. When the community has…
The emotional by-product of punishment need not occur if aversive effects prevent the emission of the response even in subvocal form. This is what Freudian psychologists call “successful” repression. (p.…
The speaker usually rejects a response because it has been punished . . . Rejecting a response reduces the conditioned aversive stimulation generated by it and is reinforced because it…
Much of the self-stimulation required in the autoclitic description and composition of verbal behavior seems to occur prior to even subaudible emission. In both written and vocal behavior changes are…
Subvocal behavior can, of course, be revoked before it has been emitted audibly . . . that is one of its advantages. The speaker tests his behavior on himself before…
Withholding audible speech may seem to be nothing more than not emitting it. Some restraining behavior may, however, be detectable, such as biting the tongue or lips or holding the…
A response which has been emitted in overt form may be recalled or revoked by an additional response. The conspicuous external record of written verbal behavior may affect the “speaker”…
VERBAL RESPONSES are described and manipulated by the speaker with appropriate autoclitics which augment and sharpen the effect upon the listener. They are also often examined for their effect upon…
Hypnotic procedures intensify verbal control to the exclusion of other forms of stimulation. The exceptional results obtained under hypnosis do not differ in kind from the normal behavior of the…
The often dramatic behavior of the listener under hypnosis is an extreme case of instruction. Techniques for inducing the hypnotic state are rich in mands, and hypnotic suggestions usually take…
The speaker can build confidence or belief by saying many things which are obviously true or quickly confirmed, or by resorting to rhetorical devices. The listener is instructed by repetition,…
In addition to the usual factors affecting the listener’s behavior (such as clarity of the verbal stimulus or the extent of conditioning of separate responses), successful instruction is subject to…
The notion of communication breaks down . . . when both the speaker and the listener are in possession of “the same facts,” or, more precisely, of “the same behavior.”…
It is the function of predication to facilitate the transfer of response from one term to another or from one object to another. (p. 361)
When I call your name, answer “Present” is a mand comparable to Say “Present”, except that the listener withholds the response until the condition in the When clause is satisfied.…
An amphora is a Greek vase with two handles has at least three effects upon the listener. As a result of having heard this response he may (1) say amphora…
We pick up the names of objects without autoclitic help when we observe someone manipulating objects while also naming them. Thus we may “learn the name of” a Jones-plug by…
The young child hearing someone called Jones many times does not therefore himself call him Jones, nor for this reason report that Jones was present, nor point to Jones in…
... Ali Baba might explain to a confederate To open the door, say “Open, Sesame!” or If you want to open the door, say “Open, Sesame!” This will be effective…
The verbal stimulus When I say “three”, go! may have no immediate effect classifiable as a response, but it changes the subsequent behavior of the listener with respect to the…
By piling up words which refer to periods of time and words describing things which occur in vast numbers, the verbal stimulus eternity (scarcely capable of ostensive definition) is given…
If X is someone who arouses a strong emotional reaction in us, then the remark X is going to telephone you shortly will alter our subsequent response to the sound…