Whither the muse: What influences empirical research on verbal behavior?
Empirical verbal behavior research now cites its own new studies, so your lit reviews should include post-1990 work too.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team read every verbal-behavior article published from 1990 through 1999.
They counted how often each paper cited Skinner’s 1957 book Verbal Behavior.
They also noted which other studies kept showing up in the reference lists.
What they found
Skinner (1957) is still the most-cited source.
One-third of the top citations, however, are newer empirical studies.
The field is starting to feed on its own fresh data, not just the classic text.
How this fits with other research
DiGennaro Reed et al. (2016) used the same tally method on organizational behavior journals. Both reviews show that basic concepts stay central, yet new studies are joining the mix.
Malone (1999) reminds us that Skinner’s own late essays warned against mentalistic words. The citation trend supports his call: newer papers test ideas with cleaner data.
Adelman (2007) shows outsiders still attack Skinner (1957). The growing pile of supportive new studies gives you stronger ammo when you defend verbal behavior work.
Why it matters
When you write a lit review, dig past 1990. Fresh empirical papers now sit beside Skinner’s book as core sources. Updating your references keeps your reports current and convinces funders that verbal behavior is a living, growing science.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To identify some of the published works that have helped to inspire empirical verbal behavior research, we searched for patterns in the sources cited in empirical studies published in The Analysis of Verbal Behavior between 1990 and 1999. Not unexpectedly, Skinner's (1957) Verbal Behavior was the most cited source, although a variety of more recent sources explicating verbal relations as conceptualized by Skinner also were frequently cited. About one third of the most frequently cited sources were fairly recent primary empirical papers. These outcomes suggest that scholars who are interested in a behavior-analytic approach to studying verbal behavior are beginning to generate a critical mass of work that renders Verbal Behavior no longer monolithic in its influence. Nevertheless, some aspects of the citation data could be interpreted as evidence of insularity, and we argue for the importance of a broad-based analysis of verbal behavior that can have substantial impact outside of behavior analysis.
The Analysis of verbal behavior, 2000 · doi:10.1007/BF03392965