Association for Behavior Analysis International

Joint control is a process identified and named by Lowenkron in several papers from 1984-2004, in which the same verbal topography is emitted under two different operant contingencies, for instance a tact and an echoic. Emission of these matching topographies then facilitates an additional response, such as a selection response or some other form of identifying an additional stimulus. The value of this process can be easily seen in the case of teaching a child with language deficits to do something relatively complex, delayed, or both. Let's say you're teaching a child to go to another room to get something. The stimulus "Go to the office to get a ruler" is completely gone immediately after it is said, unless it is preserved by repeating it. The repetition, an echoic, then self-echoic provides the means for a joint control event upon tacting the item, "ruler." Joint control thus provides an explanation for listener behavior using Skinner's verbal operants. This requires the "listener" to actually function as speaker. This tutorial will describe the workings of the joint control model, the verbal operant processes that underlie the model and applications of joint control in applied behavior analysis contexts. Current research findings in this area will be presented.

Although this is an intermediate to advanced topic, there will be an emphasis on making joint control both approachable and useful to the practitioner. It will be helpful if participants have a working knowledge of Skinner’s verbal operants.

This address will be targeted to bright, enthusiastic behavior analysts who have an interest in making use of the concepts from verbal behavior. It will be of special interest to students of verbal behavior, master’s and doctoral-level clinicians.