VB test 5

Question 1

Know the three things Skinner is concerned with in the chapter on New Combinations of Fragmentary Responses.

Answer 1

1. the types of operants contributing fragments
2. the geometry or mechanics of rearrangement
3. the possible effect of resulting forms upon the listener, of whom the speaker himself may be an example.

Question 2

Know what Skinner means by “formal blending which involves elements below the phonetic level

Be able to give examples of some of the blends Skinner mentions.

Answer 2

1. Multiple causation is responsible for formal blending. For example, whining is a blend of crying and speaking. It’s below the phonetic level because it’s a combination of non-phonetic vocal behavior.
2. Skinner mentions, “many blends are mixtures of two or more tacts under the control of the same stimuli- for example, lore for lame and sore, rone for rock and stone.”

Question 3

Know Skinner’s point about leaving the speaker out of the account so far, and converting him into an interested bystander

Answer 3

Converting a speaker into an interesting bystander… means that the speaker is not responsible for what he or she says. The speaker is just a locus, a place where things come together.

Question 4

how the speaker may be threatened by the causal relations identified in a scientific analysis,

Answer 4

If you identify the MOs, SDs and reinforcement history then there’s no place for the speaker except for as a locus for all those things to come together and the speaker behaves.

Question 5

“Whenever we demonstrate that a variable exerts functional control over a response we reduce the supposed contribution of any inner agent.”

Answer 5

Meaning, if we can show the relation between the variables that exert functional control over the speaker’s behavior then there is no need to suppose that there is any inner agent acting, only variables having functional control over the speaker’s behavior.

If we can show that a response is stronger when we deprive the individual of food (mand), then we do not need to say that a speaker uses the response to describe or disclose what he needs

Question 6

Know the “two systems of responses” Skinner mentions

Answer 6

Controlled response and controlling response- They constitute two systems of responses in the same individual (self-control) because you engage in one response which influences another response. “Part of the behavior of an organism becomes in turn one of the variables controlling another part.”

Question 7

how the “notion of an inner self is an effort to represent the fact that . . . the upper system seems to guide or alter the lower”?

Answer 7

The lower level is the other verbal operants. The upper level is the autoclitic- verbal behavior about verbal behavior. Once one has acquired all the verbal operants, the listener’s behavior can only be affected in more subtle and refined ways by adding autoclitics to those other verbal operants.

Question 8

And, know another way of talking about a speaker acquiring verbal behavior descriptive of his own verbal behavior.

Answer 8

Although the verbal community reinforces observable behavior, the speaker eventually exhibits it under the control of private events.
You can tact public and private events overtly or covertly. For example, in the presence of a chair you can tact an object, “chair”. When you say, “I see a chair”, the autoclitic is “I see” and what you are doing is tacting your own behavior of tacting a chair.

Question 9

Know what the term autoclitic means

Answer 9

Behavior which is based upon or depends upon other verbal behavior. It is verbal behavior which is intended to affect the listener such that he can respond more affectively to other verbal behavior.

Question 10

as well as the different types of autoclitic Skinner discusses (i.e., descriptive [and its five subtypes],

Answer 10

Descriptive Autoclitic

1. Informs the listener of the kind of verbal operant it accompanies.
   a. Autoclitics frequently accompany tact, mands and intraverbals but could also accompany echoics and textuals.
   b. Examples: I see it is going to rain (I see tell the listener that it is going to rain is emitted as a textual response). I demand or I’m asking you- a mand. I declare, I observe, I’m telling you- tacts.

2) Describes the state of strength of a response.
a. Autoclitics can tell the listener if our response is strong or weak.
b. Examples: I think, I estimate, I believe, I surmise – weak or poorly conditioned responses.
I know, I insist, I swear, I promise- strong response

3) Describes relations between a response and other verbal behavior
a. either of the speaker or listener, or other circumstances under which behavior is emitted.
b. They permit the listener to relate the response which follows to other aspects of the current situation, and hence to react to it more efficiently.
c. Examples: I agree, I confess, I concede, I infer, I predict, I dare say, I admit

4) Indicate the emotional or motivational condition of the speaker
a. But affect the listener not so much in modifying his reaction to the accompanying response as in emphasizing his personal relation to the speaker.
b. Examples: I am happy to say, I regret to inform you, I hate to say, I must tell you (that I don’t agree with you)

5) Negative autoclitics
a. They qualify or cancel the response which they accompany but imply that the response is strong for some reason. It is said for the effect it has on the listener.
b. Example: No, not, neither

Question 11

Different types of autoclitics (2-4)

Answer 11

2. Mands upon the listener:
   An autoclitic which functions as a mand is one in which more specific action upon the listener is specified. They mand some sort of listener response to what the speaker said.
   Examples: Listen, Take it, know this, note that.
3. qualifying [and it two subtypes, and examples of each], and
   A qualifying autoclitic serves the function of qualifying the tact in such a way that the intensity or direction of the listener’s behavior is modified.
   1) Negation
   a. The stimulus which controls a response to which no or not is added is often non-verbal. For example, the response “it is not raining” may be controlled by water splashed on you from a sprinkler, a nonverbal stimulus.
   b. The effect of no is clear when it is emitted as a mand specifying the cessation of nonverbal behavior on the part of the listener. The response is naturally extended to verbal acts. The response is acquired from the reinforcing practices of the verbal community- the child hears no in response to an action he or she is engaged in and in later similar circumstances the child may respond “No” to their own behavior or merely shake their head no.
   c. Examples: No or not
   2) Assertion
   a. The assertive autoclitic enjoins the listener to accept a given state of affairs. It must therefore be specified as a special sort of mand.
   b. The assertive autoclitic has the specific function of indicating the response is emitted as a tact (if the object is present) or under certain circumstances, as an intraverbal.
   c. Examples: Yes (which is more uncommon), Is- someone says it was raining, we reply it IS raining. This benefits the listener who can now take action with respect to that.
4. Quantifying [and the two most common types]). the five types.
   a. They function to narrow the reaction of the listener by indicating the relation between a response and the controlling stimulus.
   Examples: All, some, many, none, few
   Two most common examples: a and the