Hayes, S. C., & Leonhard, C. (1994). An alternative behavior analytic approach to verbal behavior. Revista Mexicana de Psicologia, 11, 69-86.
Skinner analyzed verbal behavior as operant behavior reinforced through the mediation of others specially trained to do so. This definition has not proved to be adequate. It does not reliably distinguish verbal events from clearly nonverbal ones, and it does not recognize the verbal nature of the listener's behavior. This paper offers an alternative operant account of verbal behavior in terms of derived stimulus relations. In the behavioral literature this contemporany analysis has found its expression mostly in the area of stimulus equivalence. However, verbal operants are not limited to equivalence relations: they include a wide range of arbitrarily applicable relational responding. We outline what kind of learning histories may give rise to these overarching, functionally defined, classes of verbal behavior. This alternative behavior approach is then exemplified with verbal meaning and rule-governance. We conclude that this analysis of verbal behavior is useful in the prediction and control of complex human behaviors whichhad previously been within the exclusive purview of cognitive psychology and related approaches.