| Abstract: Abstract or conceptual verbal responding (i.e., verbal relations established without direct differential reinforcement) continue to be of great interest to many behavior analysts. Workers in the field have disagreed, however, regarding the extent to which Skinner addressed or dealt adequately with the topic in his (1957) book Verbal Behavior. In his 1987 article in The Behavior Analyst, Alessi summarized and integrated treatments of abstract or conceptual control by Skinner (1957) and Engelmann and Carnine (1982), and emphasized the educational importance of employing generative teaching strategies. He also specifically noted that Skinner (1957) discussed abstract control in sections on minimal response repertoires, manipulative autoclitic frames, abstract stimulus control, and generic tact extension. The present paper will expand on Alessi's analysis of Skinner's treatment of abstract responding in the aforementioned sections of Verbal Behavior, identify other areas of the book which appear to address abstract control, and indicate how the principles underlying generic tact extension appear applicable to some of the other verbal operants. |