Skinner's View of How Language is Learned and Six Verbal Operants
Read the following scenario.
You work at a clinic that focuses on teaching verbal behavior to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ages 3-5. Each time you hire a new staff member, you have to train the new staff on the basics of verbal behavior. Compose a document that you can share with new staff as a "cheat sheet" on the basics of verbal behavior. You do not have to attach an actual document, instead paste your response into the Discussion Board. Your "cheat sheet" for staff should cover the following:
A brief description of Skinner's view of how language is learned.
A description of each of Skinner's six elementary verbal operants (mand, tact, echoic, intraverbal, textual, and transcription). Your description must include the controlling antecedent and consequence.
A novel, real-life example for each verbal operant. These should be new examples and not examples that you read in your textbook or that were shared by your instructor.
References
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.).Pearson Education (US).
Miltenberger, R. G. (2023). Behavior Modification: Principles and Procedures (7th ed.). Cengage Learning US.
Verbal Behavior Cheat Sheet
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Verbal Behavior Cheat Sheet
Skinner argued that operant conditioning helps in learning language. In this conditioning, consequences shape behaviors. The language learned incorporates verbal operants (Cooper et al., 2019), as specified below.
Mand represents a child’s capacity to request or show their desires. A particular need, like a desire for playing equipment, is a mand’s controlling antecedent. A successful mand’s consequence includes a request’s fulfillment. For instance, if they say, ‘I want a toy,’ and they receive it, this strengthens their communication ability.
Tact includes labeling. A tact’s controlling antecedent is anything that provokes a child to label it. Tacts are not mands because they do not associate with rewards’ reinforcements. An instance could be a child pointing at a cow and identifying it by calling it.
Echoic resembles mimicry and imitation of others’ verbal be...