Verbal Behavior: Extended Edition

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Verbal Behavior: Extended Edition provides a comprehensive account of B. F. Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior. It includes three articles that cover parts of this analysis that, over subsequent years, had evolved considerably beyond what he presented in the book: A Lecture on Having a Poem (1971), The Evolution of Verbal Behavior (1986), and The Behavior of the Listener (1989). They address creativity, how verbal behavior arose, and the role that listeners play in his analysis.

Skinner called Verbal Behavior his most important book. It took him over twenty years to complete it. The book extends his laboratory-based research on selection-by-consequences to the behavior of talking, writing, gesturing, and even thinking. These verbal actions differ from other behavior, he explains, because they do not operate on the environment directly, but rather through the behavior of a verbal community. Skinner illustrates his analysis with examples from literature, the arts, and the sciences, as well as from his own verbal behavior and that of his colleagues and children. Today, teachers and parents who work with children or adults lacking verbal skills will find Skinner s analysis key to teaching others to communicate effectively.

ABOUT THE B.F. SKINNER FOUNDATION:
The B. F. Skinner Foundation is the Primary Resource for Information About B. F. Skinner and his heritage. Established in 1988, the B. F. Skinner Foundation promotes the science founded by B. F. Skinner and supports the practices derived from that science. The Foundation advances the understanding that a more humane world is achieved by replacing coercive techniques with positive procedures. We connect scholars, students, and the general public through our magazine, Operants. The Foundation's online and physical archives have a wealth of material from Skinner's literary estate, from donations by his colleagues and students, and by family members. The Foundation promotes the new research and continues to maintain contact with professionals and students worldwide who are former students, or colleagues of B. F. Skinner or individuals interested in his work. The Foundation is also the prime contact for permissions for reproducing Skinner material or for translations of Skinner's works.

This book is sold by Copley Custom Textbooks, an imprint of XanEdu Publishing, Inc. which operates in partnership with The B. F. Skinner Foundation.