Verbal Behavior

Skinner, B. F.

ISBN 10: 0874115914 / ISBN 13: 9780874115918

Published by Xanedu Pub, 1991

About this Item

A fine paperback copy. First edition thus, first impression, of a 1992 reprint of an original 1957 work. 514 pages. 8.75x5.75x1.25 inches. Published by the B.F. Skinner Foundation of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1934, at the age of 30, B. F. Skinner found himself at a dinner sitting next to Professor Alfred North Whitehead. Never one to lose an opportunity to promote behaviourism, Skinner expounded its main tenets to the distinguished philosopher. Whitehead acknowledged that science might account for most of human behaviour but he would not include verbal behaviour. He ended the discussion with a challenge: "Let me see you," he said, "account for my behaviour as I sit here saying, 'No black scorpion is falling upon this table.'" The next morning Skinner began this book. It took him over twenty years to complete. The book extends the laboratory-based principles of selection by consequences to account for what people say, write, gesture, and think. Skinner argues that verbal behaviour requires a separate analysis because it does not operate on the environment directly, but rather through the behaviour of other people in a verbal community. He illustrates his thesis with examples from literature, the arts, and the sciences, as well as from his own verbal behaviour and that of his colleagues and children. Perhaps it is because this theoretical work provides a way to approach that most human of human behaviour that Skinner often called Verbal Behaviour his most important work. Published originally in 1957. Reprinted by the B. F. Skinner Foundation in 1992. This book is from the Official B. F. Skinner Foundation Reprint Series (paperback edition). We pack our books properly and ship daily from the UK.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1705689209761

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Verbal Behavior
• Publisher: Xanedu Pub
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874115914
• ISBN 13: 9780874115918
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

ABOUT THE BOOK: In 1934, at the age of 30, B. F. Skinner found himself at a dinner sitting next to Professor Alfred North Whitehead. Never one to lose an opportunity to promote behaviorism, Skinner expounded its main tenets to the distinguished philosopher. Whitehead acknowledged that science might account for most of human behavior but he would not include verbal behavior. He ended the discussion with a challenge: "Let me see you," he said, "account for my behaviour as I sit here saying, 'No black scorpion is falling upon this table.'" The next morning Skinner began this book. It took him over twenty years to complete. The book extends the laboratory-based principles of selection by consequences to account for what people say, write, gesture, and think. Skinner argues that verbal behavior requires a separate analysis because it does not operate on the environment directly, but rather through the behavior of other people in a verbal community. He illustrates his thesis with examples from literature, the arts, and the sciences, as well as from his own verbal behavior and that of his colleagues and children. Perhaps it is because this theoretical work provides a way to approach that most human of human behavior that Skinner often called Verbal Behavior his most important work. Published originally in 1957. Reprinted by the B. F. Skinner Foundation in 1992 and 2002. This book is from the Official B. F. Skinner Foundation Reprint Series (paperback edition).