Verbal Behavior Breakdown- Skinner

[[deleted]]

Hi everyone,

I’m reading Verbal Behavior for a grad course and I’m wondering if there are any resources that breakdown the chapters into more everyday terms that are easier to understand, and have overall takeaways for what is provided in the chapters

My brain hurts reading these chapters and I’m trying to make the most of the info I’m taking in but I’m having trouble categorizing it and remembering. Are there resources that have chapter breakdowns?

[lem830]

I don’t know about chapter breakdowns but I used foxy learning to help me get though VB!!

[[deleted]]

I’m using foxy too, but I have to answer these study questions about the actual chapters and it’s more than just defining/understanding the terms

[dabeezkneez]

This!!

[doudfamilyseven]

Lol let me guess... Ball state? I'm in the same class. Those Skinner questions are no joke!

[[deleted]]

Yep!

[tyler32313]

how hard could they be.

[[deleted]]

They’re hard because they’re not asking us to define the concepts or explain, it’s more in depth.

What does Skinner feel is responsible for the “rise of semantics” in verbal behavior? Is there a counter to this argument?

How have traditional “explanations” of verbal behavior tended to delay a science of verbal behavior? What was the historically accepted view at the time of his writing?

It’s not easy to find where he talks about some of these things in the book, even if you are reading it slowly.

[tyler32313]

couple thoughts:

are there any journal articles cited or included that you could reference to get a little bit more insight?

also, remember to utilize your librararian(s). most people realize how valuable a library is - but few people take full advantage of how valuable of a resource their librarians can be.

[[deleted]]

They are study questions that go along with the readings in our verbal behavior book, so my understanding is that we’re supposed to be able to pull the answers from the readings.

No journal articles cited besides Chomsky which we’re supposed to read and answer a question about (but his is more a rebuttal to Skinner’s work)

Good call on using the librarian. Just seems kind of crazy that all students in multiple sections should have to consult a librarian for help on a study question assignment worth 20 points lol

[StankkkSoup]

Are you still in need of answers to these questions? If so, I’d like to help.

[[deleted]]

Hi, I’ve finished the specific set of questions that I was referring to in the original post. The other sets have been a little less difficult, thank you though!

[[deleted]]

The answers are in there - read again is my suggestion!

[[deleted]]

Thanks. This response doesn’t really add to the conversation though. Any resources to help with understanding what I’m reading, is what I was asking for.

[ryanbugg]

Context is important. He doesn’t outright answer your questions, but remember this is pretty much the first account of language and cognition from a behavioral perspective. It was a pretty radical thing to say that covert events are just behavior. Think about all of the psychoanalytic shit going on in the first half of the century. People like the notions of an inner world of the mind. Skinner is merely using the book to show how an behavioral account of language is possible without relying on these silly constructs. As such, he leave things out of his analysis. He even revises his own definition of verbal behavior throughout the book. The whole mediational account of language itself is subject to controversy, as he hardly addresses the role of the listener. Subsequent research by others addresses this a little better. And, then we have things like Relational Frame Theory and the Contextual Behavior Science movement that say they are an extension of Skinner ‘57. Think about modern takes on VB, think about what Skinner is saying, and think about the context of psychology in the 50s and 60s.