Verbal Behavior: Extended Edition. Chapter 15: Self-Editing. Quote 11

Post author:B. F. Skinner Foundation
Post published:November 27, 2025
Post category:Skinner's Quote of the Day

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. 375)

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An Online Edition of The Analysis of Behavior by Holland & Skinner is now available free of charge! Imagine being taught at Harvard by B. F. Skinner! In a sense, that is what this course provides. In collaboration with Behavior Development Solutions (BDS), the B. F. Skinner Foundation is glad to bring to the new generation this programmed instruction course, developed by Drs. Holland and Skinner, to teach basic terms and principles of behavior analysis. Originally designed for use in a mechanical teaching machine, early steps in the sequence prepare you for later, more advanced material. It takes the student through a carefully prepared sequence of steps and it brings textual responding under appropriate stimulus control. That is, rather than selecting a response, the learner types it (just as one does under natural stimulus conditions). No other online course fully embodies the methodology developed by Skinner. In addition to the free version, students of behavioral analysis can sign up for a 4-part, 24 CEUs course.

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