This unfolding 72 article set deals with deeper topics in the science of behaviorology. Most of these topics concern initial scientific answers for some of humanity’s ancient questions, because the ancient—and many current—answers to these questions remain inadequate. The ancient–question topics include values, rights, ethics, morals, language, consciousness, personhood, life, death, and reality. Some more recent topics also receive some coverage, topics such as the Law of Cumulative Complexity, robotics, evolutions, and experimental and applied research methods. Another set of 72 unfolding articles titled “Mysteries of Living” covers more basic topics.
Coverage of the vast verbal–behavior topic begins with some of its recent history, and then with some ancient history regarding the relation of evolution and physiology to verbal behavior. These provide a foundation for defining not only verbal behavior but also the verbal community. After that come some characteristics of verbal–behavior analysis.
Verbal behavior has proven to be of vital importance to humans and their cultures and survival. So defining verbal behavior is in order. To stay focused on the dance, on the inherent social and interactive character of verbal behavior, defining verbal community also helps.
The first general VB characteristic concerns the emphasis on function rather than on structure. The long–standing tradition of approaching speaking and writing structurally has produced some worthwhile results. From this approach linguistics has discovered much about the structures of many languages, such as their vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.
The fourth VB characteristic concerns the difference between speakers and listeners. The terms speaker and listener refer to different behavior repertoires conditioned through all the concepts and principles and processes that the term contingencies of reinforcement covers. The vocal verbal community conditions both speaker and listener repertoires in its members, while the signing verbal community conditions both signer and viewer repertoires in its members.
The sixth VB characteristic deals with responses, response products, and the difference between them. Our upcoming analysis of elementary verbal operants calls for a level of detail that requires a distinction between a response and what we call the response product.
The eighth VB characteristic (out of the nine that these columns cover) deals with the type of formal—that is, structural—control that we call point–to–point correspondence. When we examine verbal stimuli and verbal responses, we find that some verbal stimuli contain parts that can control parts of verbal responses in a manner that we describe as point–to–point correspondence.
“Elementary Verbal Operant Relationships” would make a technically more accurate title for this and the next three columns. The basic verbal operants are relationships between independent variables and verbal responses.
In classifying verbal relations, the first of four questions that we ask—as in the last column—concerned whether or not any evocative stimulus, verbal or non–verbal, controls the response. If the answer is “No,” then the response is a mand, as the last column discussed. But if the answer is “Yes, an evocative stimulus controls the response,” then we must ask another question, which leads us to tacts.
In classifying verbal relations, the first of four questions that we ask concerns whether or not any evocative stimulus controls the response. A “No” answer leads to mands, while a “Yes” answer leads to a second question.
In classifying elementary verbal relations, the first of our four questions leads either to mands, or to a second question. This second question leads either to tacts, or to a third question. The third question leads either to intraverbals, or to a fourth and last question.
