On Chomsky's Appraisal of Skinner's Verbal Behavior: A Half Century of Misunderstanding.
Chomsky’s famous review is full of mistakes; Skinner’s Verbal Behavior still guides good ABA work today.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The author reread Chomsky’s 1959 attack on Skinner’s book Verbal Behavior.
He checked each claim against what Skinner actually wrote.
The paper lists the biggest errors and shows why Skinner’s ideas still hold up.
What they found
Chomsky misquoted Skinner and set up straw-man arguments.
The review missed how Skinner used function, not form, to define verbal operants.
Skinner’s account can handle creativity and novelty—Chomsky said it could not.
How this fits with other research
Sarimski (2003) already showed that 1950s work built useful tools from Skinner’s ideas.
Stagnone et al. (2025) later used those tools to cut repetitive speech in kids with autism.
Together the three papers form a chain: theory → early apps → modern treatment.
Tincani et al. (2019) remind us to keep good data so critics can’t say we hide flaws.
Why it matters
When parents or teachers say ‘behaviorism can’t explain language,’ you now have clear answers.
Point them to real kids who learned mands, tacts, and intraverbals through ABA.
Skinner’s box still works—keep using it.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The history of the writing of Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957), Chomsky's review (1959), and MacCorquodale's rebuttal (1970) are briefly summarized. Chomsky's recent reflections on his review are analyzed: Chomsky's refusal to acknowledge the review's errors or its aggressive tone is consistent with his polemical style but comes at a minor cost in consistency and plausibility. However, his remarks about the place of Skinner's work in science reveal misunderstandings so great that they undercut the credibility of the review substantially. The gradual growth in the influence of Skinner's book suggests that its legacy will endure.
The Behavior analyst, 2006 · doi:10.1007/BF03392134