Verbal behavior: History and future.

Abstract

Abstract Since the publication of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior (1957), interest in a behavioral approach to the study of language has grown. Skinner laid an impressive framework for the interpretation of many language-related phenomena that were traditionally left to linguists and philosophers. What Skinner lacked was any sound empirical data to support his analyses. Recently, behavior analysts have suggested that, despite much promise, there is a scarcity of research derived from Skinner's Verbal Behavior. However, in the years since the publication of Verbal Behavior, the amount of verbal behavior research published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at professional conferences has increased. Moreover, technology derived from a behavioral analysis of language has been to great use in a variety of clinical settings. The future of verbal behavior research and theory seems promising, especially as behavior analysts move toward incorporating into the behavioral arsenal relevant methodological and technological advances from other fields. ********** Since the publication of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior (1957), interest in a behavioral approach to the study of language has grown. In the years immediately following publication, Verbal Behavior itself drew much criticism from the behavioral community because of the theoretical, rather than empirical, basis for the book. Skinner laid an impressive framework for the interpretation of many language-related phenomena that were traditionally left to linguists and philosophers. What Skinner lacked was any sound empirical data to support his analyses. The power of his book was largely dependent on the acceptance of language as behavior similar to the nonverbal behavior that had been studied in the laboratory by Skinner and his colleagues for 20-years. However, the behavioral community's reluctance to accept Skinner's work with open arms is not to say that the topic itself was dismissed. Rather, it seemed that it was time for behavior analysts to put their money where their mouths were. If no research had yet demonstrated the effectiveness of Skinner's analysis, then it was time to it to the test. The success that the behavioral community has had in doing so remains a subject of debate. Recently, behavior analysts have suggested that, despite much promise, there is a scarcity of research derived from Skinner's Verbal Behavior. In reality, this oft-promoted idea seems largely unjustified. If one restricted themselves to the pages of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior (TAVB), which is arguably the flagship journal for verbal behavior, then it could seem that the fruits of Skinner's labor were largely theoretical in nature (see below). A closer look at other behavioral journals and journals outside of behavior analysis reveals a different picture, however. John Eshleman (1991) undertook an exhaustive review of psychology journals searching for verbal behavior research, the results of which were published in TA VB. Although Eshleman started with traditional computer searches, he soon graduated to physically looking through actual journals and reviewing each article, not just those with seemingly related descriptors or mentions of Skinner. Additionally, he reviewed the proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA) since 1975 and tallied the number of verbal behavior presentations. Eshleman found that actually, the amount of empirical research related to Skinner's 1957 analysis had steadily increased over the years. He proposed that comparisons of verbal behavior research to other areas of behavioral research resulted in a distorted picture. That is, the amount of verbal behavior research published each year continues to be much less than published research from other areas of behavior analysis. However, if verbal behavior research is compared to itself over the years, there is a clearly accelerating trend. …