Verbal behavior: what is it?

Verbal behavior is a concept proposed by BF Skinner and also the name of one of his works, published in 1957. As is known, Skinner is considered one of the greatest exponents of one of the most important currents in psychology: behaviorism. His main contribution was the theory of operant conditioning.

For Skinner, all human behavior It is a product of environmental conditions.. Said in a very general way, when someone displays a behavior he can obtain a positive or negative response in return. When it is positive, the behavior is reinforced. When it is negative, it weakens. This same scheme would apply to verbal behavior.

What Skinner tried was to explain the phenomenon of language based on the principles of behaviorism.. The concept of verbal behavior has generated great debates, since other approaches to psychology consider this view to be reductionist. Despite this, the behaviorist model continues to be applied in this field, particularly for the treatment of some language problems.

verbal behavior

BF Skinner defines verbal behavior as “behavior that is reinforced through the mediation of two people.”. In a schematic way it would be this: a person speaks (auditory stimulus) and exerts an influence on the listener (behavior modification). The result of this is a reinforcement in the speaker’s behavior.

Since speaking achieves an effective result, this reinforces the speech. If such a result were not achieved, the act of speaking would be weakened. When this basic scheme is applied in language therapies, what is sought is to reinforce the speaker’s verbal behavior. In this way, progress is made in solving their problems.

There are also non-verbal behaviors. These take place when communicative interaction does not occur. An example may illustrate this better. One person wants bread and says it to another: “I want bread.” Whoever listens, delivers a loaf. It is a typical example of verbal behavior that reinforces language in the speaker. If the person does not say anything and just goes to the pantry and takes the bread, there is non-verbal behavior, from Skinner’s point of view.

Verbal behavior is reinforced by the mediation of another person’s behavior (Skinner 1957).

The verbal operants

Skinner classified verbal behavior into different categories, according to the function it fulfills and the factors that intervene in it. From this six types were born that are called “verbal operants.” They are the following.

1. Verbal operant – Command

It refers to verbal behavior that focuses on making requests or obtaining reinforcers.. The speaker is in control and seeks to get something from the listener. Skinner points out that this is the most important functional operant for the speaker and the first one we internalize. In therapy, it is the most important skill, the one that must be developed above any other.

2. Verbal operant – Touch

In this case there is a discriminative stimulus, that is, an image, person or object with which there is direct contact. For example, a child sees a car and says “car.” Or there is a yellow card and the child touches it and says “yellow.”

3. Verbal operant – Echoic

It refers to the repetition of the verbal behavior of another speaker.. Someone says a word and the listener imitates what he heard. In therapy it is used to teach other operants to those who have language problems.

4. Verbal Operant – Intraverbal

It is a verbal response to a verbal stimulus issued by another speaker. In this case, the stimulus does not have a direct relationship with the response, from the point of view of speech, as occurs in the case of imitation. The relationship they have is for social reinforcement. For example: “What is your name?” “Juan”.

For verbal behavior to occur there must be a distinction between the behavior of the speaker and the behavior of the listener.

5. Textual and transcription

In the textual verbal operant there is a link between speech and reading and writing. Like when someone sees the word “book” and says “book.” In the transcription operant there is this same link, but in this case it takes place when someone dictates and the other writes.

6. Autoclitic verbal operant

This type of verbal behavior operates in the same way as the command operant. However, In this case there is no direct request in the strict sense.. For example, when someone asks: “What is the capital of Spain?”

Implications of verbal behavior

Skinner’s focus on verbal behavior did not have immediate application; In fact, it took a while for him to engage in therapy, even though this thinker formulated his theory from a series of experiences with autistic children.

Over time, various exponents of behaviorism recovered the concept of verbal behavior and applied it to autism and aphasia therapies, especially. The approach has proven to be a factor of effectiveness in these cases and that is why it remains in force.

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