|
| From Verbal Classes to Verbal Shaping, Verbal Governance, and Other Verbal Processes |
| Friday, May 28, 2010 |
| 10:00 AM–5:00 PM |
| Presidio C (Grand Hyatt) |
| Area: VBC/TPC; Domain: Experimental Analysis |
| CE Instructor: Rachel Thompson, Ph.D. |
| A. CHARLES CATANIA (University of Maryland, Balitmore County), CHRISTINE HOFFNER BARTHOLD (University of Delaware) |
| Description: This workshop will provide a review of the basic verbal classes (e.g., manding, tacting, intraverbals, autoclitics) and the relations among them as well as a background for examining research on verbal processes that enter into a variety of human settings and may be fundamental to a variety of applications. Topics will include multiple causation in verbal behavior, the shaping of verbal behavior, correspondences between saying and doing, verbal governance, naming and other higher order classes, the role of verbal behavior in judgments of one's own behavior, and the implications of these areas for treatment and for educational and other settings. Those who may find this workshop useful include (1) individuals who have read Skinner's book, “Verbal Behavior,” and who would like a contemporary updating of the issues treated there; (2) those familiar with the concepts of verbal behavior mainly as they are used in applied settings and who would like a more systematic overview; and (3) those with a general background in behavior analysis who would like to extend such basic concepts as reinforcement and stimulus control to important aspects of human behavior. A reading of Skinner's book is recommended to participants, but is not required. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to do the following:
1. Participants will be able to interpret instances of verbal behavior in terms of the different verbal classes that may have entered into them; 2. they will be able to recognize higher-order verbal classes and their nesting (as when individual tacts are members of a higher-order class called naming) and to understand the problems that may arise when different contingencies operate on classes at different hierarchical levels;
3. they will be able to distinguish accounts of verbal behavior that emphasize function (e.g., the stimulus control of verbal behavior and the contingencies that shape and maintain it) from more common everyday accounts in terms of form (e.g., topographies, grammatical, and linguistic categories); and
4. they will be able to recognize functional verbal processes (including verbal shaping and verbal governance) as they occur in natural settings and as they may be incorporated into behavior analytic applications. |
| Activities: The workshop will consist of brief lectures outlining the classes and functions of verbal behavior, interspersed with presentations of research data, demonstrations, visual aids, and discussions, as well as other audience-participation activities. |
| Audience: The workshop will be suitable for behavior analysts at the graduate level or higher, for undergraduates who have completed all of the requirements for BCaBA certification, and for professionals in related fields including, but not limited to, education, psychology, and behavior therapies. Familiarity with the basic concepts of behavior analysis (e.g., reinforcement, operants, shaping, stimulus control) is highly recommended. |
| Content Area: Theory |
| Instruction Level: Basic |