Verbal Behavior (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 514 pages
• Publisher: Copley Publishing Group (December 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874115914
• ISBN-13: 978-0874115918
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,842 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unjustly neglected classic, August 28, 2000

By	Germund Hesslow (Lund, Sweden) - See all my reviews

Verbal behavior is a classic work and one the most neglected and underrated scientific texts of century, erroneously believed by many to have been conclusively demolished by Noam Chomsky (whose work in competition with Freud's is possibly the most overrated). Skinners analysis of verbal behavior differs from other accounts both in psychology and linguistics in being entirely naturalistic and free of the quite far-reaching metaphysical assumptions about 'meanings' and 'rules' inherent in traditional approaches. The latter focus on an idealized and abstract entity (grammatically correct language) which does not really exist, whereas Skinner analyses the verbal behavior actually performed by people. He demonstrates that a large amount of linguistic phenomena can be interpreted and explained by the principles of operant conditioning which have been demonstrated in laboratory experiments and he explores the consequences of this analysis for problems normally only addressed by philosophers, such as the nature of meaning, the social aspects of language, the possibility of a private language and the nature of thinking. Many philosophers will surprised to learn that some of the best ideas of the later Wittgenstein can be found more clearly and elegantly expressed by Skinner.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Eminently Useful, and Difficult, August 15, 2000

By A Customer

Skinner's VB is a fascinating read and is the bedrock on which subsequent analyses of VB stand. It was and is an ambitious, risky, brilliant work. Despite its flaws in the final few chapters, the influence of this work on modern clinical- and applied-behavior-analysis is significant. Skinner's chapters on tacting (the VB of accurately, usefully labeling one's own behavior and the objects or qualities of one's world) and manding (asking for what one wants or needs from others) should be required reading for every psychotherapist. Contrary to popular opinion, VB was not refuted by Chomsky and never died. The proof of this has been in its usefulness for analysis, intervention and the improvement of human behavior. This is not BFS's most accessible work. Thus, three suggestions: (re)Reading BFS's _Science and Human Behavior_ OR _About Behaviorism_ may be an advisable refresher before tackling VB. Additionally, Kohlenberg and Tsai's (1991) Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (especially their chapter on the Self)will make clear, simply and compellingly, the importance of a rich, carefully trained repertoire of verbal behavior to the healthy development of the human. Finally, spending some time looking at the data - actual studies of verbal behavior in the journals JABA or VB - really highlights that a useful marriage of theory, philosophy and technology were brought forth by this book. Sr+ reading!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Diamond in the Rough, September 27, 2003

By	Shaker (US) - See all my reviews

I return to this book off and on. (I wish I can study this book with someone who has mastered this material.) The only epiphany I have had in my life is/was when I read Chapter 2 of this book about two decades ago (and understood that Skinner was analyzing language utterances as law of effect conditioned behavior).

Simply a brilliant book. Most underrated,as people have pointed out.

I just reread Chapter 1. It only has 12 pages. However, the brilliance can clearly be seen. As is the difficulty. There are about 12 sentences (in these 12 pages) that I do not understand almost completely. (For instance, the one about speaker also being a listener.)

Added on 6/12/2004
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I happened to come across Chomsky's critique of Verbal Behavior online and started studying it closely, especially Section 3. I noticed several misunderstandings almost right away and started answering them, in a writeup. (I will post the details on these later.) On a lark, I sent a copy of this to Noam Chomsky, not expecting to receive a reply. I was surprised to get a reply. We exchanged several e-mails. However, Chomsky stubbornly refused to see my points. His answers were mostly non-sequiturs. Are may points valid? You be the judge when I get around to posting my two specific points. In the meantime, you may want to look at

http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=305940