Promoting the behaviorological analysis of verbal behavior.
Stop only talking about verbal behavior—start selling ready-made tools that show it works.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Buskist et al. (1988) wrote a position paper. They told the field to stop only writing articles about Skinner’s verbal behavior.
Instead, they said, build and sell real things like curricula, apps, or assessments.
What they found
The paper itself is the product. It shows that talking alone has not spread verbal-behavior work.
Selling tangible tools, they argue, will make the science visible and useful.
How this fits with other research
Rusch et al. (1981) already answered the call. They built a verbal-operant task list for staff training and showed it could be used reliably.
Grant (1989) added the next step. It tells you how to measure verbal behavior directly, giving the products a data backbone.
Normand (2014) repeats the worry but offers a different fix. It says publish in non-behavior journals instead of selling products.
Maraccini et al. (2016) extends the idea into business. It turns company rules and goals into motivating verbal stimuli, showing the market is wider than clinics.
Why it matters
You can act today. Package your verbal-behavior program as a sellable kit with lessons, data sheets, and parent scripts. One clear product beats ten conference talks.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Turn your current mand training packet into a branded PDF kit and email it to five local schools.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
An important contribution of radical behavioral science is its analysis of verbal behavior. Slowly but surely an increasing number of efforts verify the propositions explicit or inherent in Skinner's theory of verbal behavior, or apply his analysis to clinical or educational practice. But both the theory and the effort to apply it are met with silence. Such silent neglect simply varies the calumnious attention usually given to behavioristic science. In recent years several papers have called attention to how non-behaviorists have habitually misrepresented the science of behavior and its underlying philosophy of radical behaviorism (Cooke, 1984; DellaLana, 1982; Morris, 1985; Todd, 1987a; Todd & Morris, 1981; Todd & Morris, 1983). These authors offer various solutions. Their preferred strategy stresses an increased effort to disseminate accurate information about behavioristic science to the press and to the world at large. They generally address, however, errors of commission, not omission. Further, their solutions tend to dwell on "processes" instead of "products." This paper first reviews the problem of misrepresentation of the science. It then addresses the principal error of omission in the psychological literature, and offers a solution based on achieving new products resulting from new verbal behavior technology.
The Analysis of verbal behavior, 1988 · doi:10.1007/BF03392826