The Role Of The Listener In Skinners Verbal Behavior Psychology Essay

The Role Of The Listener In Skinners Verbal Behavior Psychology Essay Abstract This paper examines Skinners analysis of the role of a listener in a speaker-listener verbal episode as a mediation of reinforcement for the speakers behavior. Reinforcement as a mediation is an important component yet at the same time it is insufficient definitional aspect concerning the role of the listener. As the behavior of the listener is more complex and needs to be considered more fully. Moreover, the concept of understanding and listening are examined. As Skinner assumes a person who listens and does not respond effectively that means he does not understand and therefore he does not consequate the verbal behavior of the speaker. Nevertheless, a person might listen and understand but he deliberately doesnt want to comply to the speakers verbal behavior. Introduction Skinners (1957) book, Verbal Behavior, primary focuses on the behavior of the speaker; nevertheless he doesnt neglect the behavior of the listener. As skinner explains that, an adequate account of verbal behavior need cover only as much of the behavior of the listener as is needed to explain the behavior of the speaker (Skinner, 1957, p. 2). Language, for Skinner is a learned behavior under the functional control of environmental contingencies. This may be evident when a man speaks or responds that becomes a question about human behavior and in its turn a question to be answered with adequate concepts and techniques of psychology as an experimental science of behavior (Skinner, 1957, p. 5). Verbal operant units, on the other hand, are determined by identifying functional relations between verbal behavior and the environment. For example, mand is controlled by motivational operations (MOs), the tact is controlled by discriminative stimuli (SD) in the form of objects or events, other forms of verbal operants are echoic, intraverbal, textual, and autoclitic behavior are controlled by (SD ) in the form of prior verbal stimuli and all verbal behavior comes under the discriminative control of an audience composed of a listener or audience, including the speaker himself. Skinners Account of the Role of the Listener Skinner defines verbal behavior as a behavior reinforced through the mediation of other persons (Skinner, 1957, p. 2). We notice that at this initial definition of verbal behavior Skinner does not give much attention to the role of the listener, despite the fact that there would be little verbal behavior to consider if someone had not already acquired special responses to the patterns of energy generated by the speaker. As a result, this omission can be justified, for the behavior of the listener in mediating the consequences of the behavior of the speaker is not necessarily verbal in any special sense (Skinner, 1957, p. 2). Skinner considers the listeners essential role to be the development and mediation of reinforcement for the speakers behavior. In other words, the listeners role is to physically act upon the world and to reinforce the verbal behavior of the speaker. Skinner, however, states that the presence of a listener is necessary for a verbal episode. Hence, the behaviors of a speaker and a listener taken together constitute a verbal episode, upon which Skinner emphasizes that together they compose what may be called a total speech episode. Since there is nothing in such an episode which is more than the combined behavior of two or more individuals and consequently nothing emerges in the social unit. The speaker can be studied while assuming a listener and the listener while assuming a speaker (Skinner, 1957, p. 2). Skinner in addition considers the speaker to be his own listener, as in many significant instances the listener is behaving at the same time as a speaker. Since the speaker and the listener may reside within the same skin. Thus, some of the behavior of listening resembles the behavior of speaking, mainly when the speaker understands what is said, this could be covertly seen in verbal operants as echoics, mands, tacts, intraverbals and autoclitics. At this point the speaker may serve as his own audience. As Skinner believes that an analysis of the speakers verbal behavior is determined by the establishment of a verbal repertoire of the listener without which there will be no verbal behavior. The listener plays a significant role according to Skinner in consequating the speakers behavior this could be seen when the listener provides a suitable level of attention as an eye contact, head nods, praise or even in the way he is standing face forward. This would give in its turn social reinforcement the speaker is hoping for. Also, responding to the speakers mands. This may be in the form of getting things, opening doors, and other nonverbal behavior. Another form of verbal behavior that is probably important in listening is echoic. As we covertly echo what we hear. Echoics are vocal responses that have point-to-point correspondence with the vocal emissions of other speakers and that come to serve verbal functions (Skinner, 1957). A child may point to a toy and attempt to gain access to it. If a parent holds the toy while saying toy and the child then says toy in order to gain the toy, this is an example of an echoic response, in that the copying moves to a mand function. Liste ning, therefore is conceptualized as an operant behavior maintained by the consequence of what is heard. A speaker and a listener may rotate responses turn-taking this is covertly observable. It is a particular type of interlocking verbal behavior units. As when both a listener and speaker responses are reinforced for an individual in a dyad involving turn-taking, it is an observable incidence of an episode in which both the speaker and the listener responses for each of the individuals are reinforced. In addition, there is another type of rotation as Skinner illustrates, the verbal fantasy, whether overt or covert, is automatically reinforcing to the speaker as listener. Just as the musician plays or composes what he is reinforced by hearing, or as the artist paints what reinforces him visually, so the speaker engaged in verbal fantasy says what he is reinforced by hearing or writes what he is reinforced by reading (Skinner, 1957, p. 439). Therefore, this type of rotations between speaker and listener that occurs within the individuals own skin, which in some cases is covertly observab le, is also reinforcing. The listener plays another important role; as he can strengthen the speakers verbal behavior, he can also extinguish it. This could be evident in the social punishment delivered by the verbal community in the form of an audience. There control over the speakers verbal behavior may be emitted in the form of frowns, head nods or ignoring the speaker and not responding verbally or non-verbally to his verbal behavior. Therefore, in the presence of certain audiences whom the speaker has a previous history of being positively reinforced by a speaker may emit a certain response covertly while in the presence of a negative audience another form of response may be emitted that could be overtly or with low strength or a speaker may just stop talking. In other words, different audiences will reinforce a single response differently, and for entirely different reasons (Skinner, 1957, pp. 230-232). Nonetheless, Skinner sums the ability of a listener to reinforce or punish a speakers verbal behavio r that a listener must understand what the speaker is saying, to know what the meaning of his verbal behavior is and to act properly and effectively upon hearing the speakers verbal behavior. A Critique of Skinners Account of the Role of the Listener It seems as Skinner was progressively moving further in Verbal Behavior, he started to recognize some gaps in his discussions or in other circumstances some contradictions. But most of all he started to emphasize that the listener does hold an essential role in a speakers verbal behavior, he admits that [i]t would be foolish to underestimate the difficulty of this subject matter (Skinner, 1957, p. 3). Skinner initially started with the notion that [i]t will be helpful to restrict our definition by excluding instances of speaking which are reinforced by certain kinds of effects on the listener. The exclusion is arbitrary but it helps to define a field of inquiry having certain unitary properties (Skinner, 1957, p. 224). Consequently, Skinner refined this further to say that the first restriction would be to limit the term verbal to instances in which the responses of the listener have been conditioned. He then elaborates that if we make the further provision that the listener must be responding in ways which have been conditioned specifically in order to reinforce the behavior of the speaker, then we narrow our subject to be traditionally considered as the verbal field (Skinner, 1957, p. 224-225). Therefore, a listener according to Skinner is the individual who responds in a proper effective way to stimuli generated by a speakers verbal behavior. This takes us back to the point that a listener must understand first the meaning the speaker is talking about in order to be able to respond and to behave appropriately. However, a listener may in some situations understand what the speaker is saying or asking him to do but he doesnt want to do it or in other words comply to and follow what he is told to do. This could be examined in the following example when a parent may ask his grounded son to: go and take the trash out. As a sign of anger the son does not comply to what his father asked him to do but at the same time he does understand what his father asked him to do take the trash out. This does not match Skinners previous assumption; a listener who does not respond properly to the speakers verbal behavior does not understand what has been said. In another instance, a listener may echo a word in another language but he does not understand what it means the speaker may say heureux and the listener would say heureux. At the same time Skinner explains that understanding something is to know what it means. The ability for a listener to engage in this behavior again in future similar circumstances as a response to the proper stimulus under suitable circumstances is understanding. Since it does not involve any immediate activity on the part of the listener (although responses of the othe r sorts already noted may take place concurrently), we detect the change only in his future behavior (Skinner, 1957,p. 357). A listener may say I understand only when he identified the variables which were mainly effective in leading him to make the same response [in another occasion] (Skinner, 1957, p. 280). Yet, Skinners discussion on this part also lacks an explicit explanation for how a stimulus in the past might bring behavior under the control of a stimulus in the present. This is also evident in the account of knowing which Skinner explains to be a hypothetical immediate condition that is detected only at a later date (Skinner, 1957, p. 363). In fact, at the last part of Verbal Behavior he argues that distant stimuli are weak variables and contingencies that involve them usually reinforce bridging behavior (Skinner, 1957, p.416-417). But, this means that behavior is abrupt and stopped at that point of time that needs to be bridged back. Yet, behavior is a continuous evolving interaction with the environment. Another point, there is no gap as Skinner assumes; rather events are described in different ways and forms. Skinner considers understanding to be a covert behavior as seeing and thinking. Yet at the end of Verbal Behavior Skinner states that there arent many differences between covert and overt behavior; as the variables controlling them are the same. We cant really distinguish covert from overt behavior along functional lines. A person is an expert listener for their own verbal behavior. Subtle behavior is easy for the listener to respond to when he is also the Speaker. Skinner elaborates further that thinking is most productive when verbal behavior leads to specific consequences and are reinforced as in the example of verbal daydreams. Skinner at the end of Verbal Behavior comes to the conclusion that thinking is behavior, overt or covert, verbal or nonverbal (Skinner, 1957, p.446-452). This takes us back to the very beginning of Verbal Behavior in which Skinner started by assuming that the behavior of the listener cannot be distinguished from behavior in general (Skinner, 1957, p.2). Yet, this makes us wonder why he tackled thinking to be a separate entity and the listener was marginalized. Is the listener a subject at the time Skinner wrote Verbal Behavior to be a complicated subject matter to a point he deliberately avoided discussing. If thats the issue why would Skinner take the speaker to be his own listener, and how the listener and the speaker are within one skin? Does this in its turn lead us to assume that the speaker is also a behavior? Of what we have discussed so far a solution might be in separating the listener and the speaker into two established individual entities and consequently to examine the listeners role in depth. Also, to explain further how understanding a verbal stimulus might be converted to a nonverbal response on part of a listener whic h Skinner does not give enough attention to in his discussions. Conclusion As we have discussed Skinner explains that the essential role of the listener is in the development and mediation of reinforcement for the speakers behavior. But, at the same time communication is regarded to be successful only if an expression has the same meaning for both the speaker and the listener. As numerous theories of meaning are usually applied to both speaker and listener as if the meaning process were the same for both. Yet, much of the behavior of the listener has no resemblance to the behavior of the speaker and is not verbal according to Skinners definition (Skinner, 1957, p. 33). Skinner suggests that the behavior of the listener is more complex and needs to be considered more fully, as once a repertoire of verbal behavior has been set up, a number of new problems arise from the interaction of its parts. As verbal behavior is usually the effect of multiple causes in which separate variables combine to extend their functional control, and as a result new forms of behavior emerge from the recombination of old fragments. Consequently, this has appropriate effects upon the listener. His behavior then calls for analysis especially in the case that a speaker is normally also a listener. The speaker reacts to his own behavior in several significant ways. The mere emission of responses is an incomplete characterization when behavior is composed. As another consequence of the fact that the speaker is also a listener, some of the behavior of listening resembles the behavior of speaking, particularly when the listener understands what is said. (Skinner, 1957, p.10) Howe ver, each person is controlled by a different history of reinforcement and controlling contingencies. That leads a speaker to self-edit his verbal behavior when he finds that what he said has a different meaning for the listener who in his turn is controlled by a different history of reinforcement and different controlling contingencies. Therefore, a speaker to avoid punishment he engages in a self-editing behavior. We notice that Skinners definition of verbal behavior still need further refinement to elaborate further on the nature and function of the role of a listener in a verbal episode. I find Skinners own comments on Verbal Behavior to be proper conclusion on the listeners role for the behavior of the speaker, as he states it forward to future critics that the issue of listener needs further examination. Most of my book Verbal Behavior (1957) was about the speaker. It contained a few diagrams showing interactions between speakers and listeners, but little direct discussion of listening. I could justify that because, except when the listener was also to some extent speaking, listening was not verbal in the sense of being effective only through the mediation of other persons. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ But if listeners are responsible for the behavior of speakers, we need to look more closely at what they do. (Skinner, 1989, p. 86) Skinner has tackled a very complicated subject matter, he might not dealt with all its aspects with the same level of cohesion and consistency but at the same time he has opened the door for future thinkers and critics to continue and carry on what he has established.

The Many Faces of American Identity

Since the Civil War, America’s identity and the identity of its citizens has gone through multiple transitions, each building upon or rejecting the ideas and principles of those issues which had come before.From the racial segregation and discrimination of African Americans from the time of Reconstruction through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the plight of the poor and the politically disenfranchised, the struggle for equal rights for women and homosexuals, and the post-Cold War issues of globalization and economic viability in a changing world, the concept of what it means to be American has adapted to both the successes and failures of each.At the basis of each of these struggles is the idea that at periods throughout American history each of these groups have felt the need to be heard and represented, having been marginalized by social and political injustices and ideologies that at each turn represented a hypocrisy over the basic tenets of freedom and liberty. Un represented and kept outside of the political process and the mainstream social identity, these groups have sought to alternately belong to a concept of the American identity and to redefine it.In examining each of these developments, from Jacob Riis 1890 expose of the New York City slums to the new freedoms and challenges of the post-Cold War America of presidents Clinton and G. W. Bush, I will illustrate how each social and political revelation combine to create an American identity that is uncertain of its future while carrying an awareness of its past. Jacob Riis 1890 book How The Other Half Live gave the average, middle-class American room for pause. In his description of the slums and challenges faced by the economically and socially handicapped masses of New York City, show an underbelly to the American dream.The poverty and inequality that pervade the plight of the tenement dweller, both black and white, is at odds with the ideals of freedom. In particular, Riis makes a case for African-Americans who having recently been emancipated had fled the institutionalized racism of the South to come work and live in New York. However, they have escaped one kind of bondage, clearly and legally defined, to be forced into a socially ambiguous but no less prevalent form of degradation and discrimination.But even as Riis decries the struggle of the newly arrived blacks, who based upon their skin color alone are placed at the bottom of the social ladder, his own views speak of a different kind of discrimination. While at once condemning the landlords who profit by courting black tenants due to the ability to charge more money, Riis explanation of the character of blacks is simplistic and demeaning, likening them more to children than adults equal in every respect to their white counterparts, â€Å"If his emotions are not very deeply rooted, they are at least sincere while they last, and until the tempter gets the upper hand again†(Riis, p.155). He also express es a desire to maintain a level of segregation, calling the mixing of races on Thompson Street where the â€Å"this co-mingling of the utterly depraved of both sexes, white and black, on such ground, there can be no greater abomination† (p. 156). Despite the shortcomings of his viewpoint, influenced by the historical relationship of whites and blacks in the U. S. , Riis nevertheless realizes that blacks are being pushed away from the very equality promised to them as citizens, as Americans.Additionally, the poor native New Yorkers and immigrants who people the tenements, share a similar burden. Reduced by economic and social circumstance to merely subsist on the scraps of a society which has turned a blind eye to them, the â€Å"pauper† is in a position devoid of hope, He is as hopeless as his own poverty† (Riis, 1890, p. 246). Immigrants such as the Irish fared no better in Riis opinion, being particular vulnerable to the moral deterioration of slum life being t he â€Å"soonest and most thoroughly† (Riis, 1890, p. 249) corrupted.The kind of separation between economic and racial portions of society, as well as the defense of one while the other remains degraded, is a common thread that runs throughout the changes of the last century in America’s identity. The 1896 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson legalized this type of segregation with the â€Å"separate but equal† predecent, providing a constitutional basis for Jim Crow laws to flourish and plant deeper roots in the American South. Though struck down over a half a century later by the Court’s decision in Brown vs.Board of Education, the realization of equality as American citizens regardless of race, religion, sexuality, gender, or economic status proved to not be so easy. While in 1881 Chester Arthur hoped to assimilate the Native American population into the broader scope of white society through re-education and removal of tribal affil iation and heritage, no such policy was established in regard to African Americans. As with the struggle for women’s and gay rights, the struggle for African American equality culminated within the community itself.The refusal of Southern lawmakers to rise out of the era of racism and embrace a new concept of American, as non-white and white side-by-side, created a necessity to action. As Martin Luther King Jr. ’s 1962 â€Å"Letter From a Birmingham Jail† attempted to explain this need to the black power structure which both supported and chastised him for his actions in Birmingham and across the South, â€Å"â€Å"unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community no alternative.† More importantly, King understood the concept of the â€Å"mutuality† of the American community, whether it be black or white, male or female, which was pi cked up again by the youth culture that grew to embody a sense of change and challenge, as embodied in the Port Huron Statement. King noted in 1962 that, â€Å"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. † There is truth still in that statement, as well as in the ideals placement within other struggles for equality. It is a concept that not only did the student protesters understood but was an equal basis for Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique and the rise of the feminist movement and later the push for gay rights and better federal programs to combat the AIDS crisis.Like the inequalities of the previous century, the poverty described by Riis and the racism inherent to the continued racial discrimination, the gender and sexuality issue that has come to a head over the past fifty years have effectively acted to undermi ne the idealized definition of American while also harming the fabric of society. Disenfranchised people are left to stagnate rather than grow and instead of reasoned change it boils over in emotion and uncertainty.The women in Friedan’s Feminine Mystique cannot name the hypocrisy of the country’s national values and the gender roles programmed into their psyche and are bowed under an enemy they cannot see. The hypocrisy of American identity has not evaporated but instead become more difficult to understand and identify; to be American has built upon the ideals established by King and Friedan, whose spirit of questioning and rebellion have become part of what it is to be American even as new and more complex cracks have appeared in the facade of such a delicate but no less no dream of freedom and liberty. Both President Bill Clinton and George W.Bush illustrate this new era of a globalized identity with in their respective inaugurations. Each faced challenges during th eir presidencies, differing on a wide-array of social and political issues. However, on the cusp of their first term they express the optimism and unfailing double-blindness of a nation which tries to steer its hope to the future while alternately cowering against and celebrating its past. Constantly aware of our differences, America has attempted to celebrate this difference even as we continue to marginalize along the lines of race, religion, politics, social status, and gender.It is a cycle of self-hate and self-love that has become as much a part of the American identity as the mythological concept of the American dream. Bibliography Arthur, C. (1881). Indian Policy Reform. PBS. Retrieved 30 April 2010 from http://www. pbs. org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/indpol. htm. Brown vs. Board. (1954). Find Law. Retrieved 30 April 2010 from http://caselaw. lp. findlaw. com/scripts/getcase. pl? court=US&vol=347&invol=483. Friedan, B. (1962). Feminine Mystique. H-Net. Retrieved 1 May 2010 from http://www. h-net. org/~hst203/documents/friedan1. html. King, M.L. Jr. (1963). Letter From a Birmingham Jail. The Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education Institute. Retrieved 1 May 2010 from http://mlk-kpp01. stanford. edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/birmingham. pdf. Plessy vs. Ferguson. (1896). Find Law. Retrieved 30 April 2010 from http://caselaw. lp. findlaw. com/scripts/getcase. pl? court=US&vol=163&invol=537. Riis, J. (1890). How The Other Half Lives. New York: Charles Schribner & Sons. Google Books. Retrieved 1 May 2010 from http://books. google. com/books? id=zhcv_oA5dwgC&dq=How+the+Other+Half+Lives&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

Comparison of The Crucible and After Liverpool Essay

For this assignment I am going to be comparing two plays both of which I have studied and preformed. The first play, which I studied, was the crucible by Arthur Miller and After Liverpool by James Saunders. Each of the two plays are naturalistic but are set in two very different times. The Crucible is set in Salem Massachusetts in 1642 and After Liverpool is set in the 70’s. The two are quite contrary in how they were set out first of all After Liverpool was made up of 23 small scenes some only having a few lines some having quite a few but most of them were short. The main things used in the setting for each scene are very basic. The scene was made up of a coffee table, a few chairs and a sofa. It os so basic as everyone has these things and this type of thing could happen to anyone of us at any time. This produces the effect that relationships are similar and that in this performance the only thing that maters is the relationship between the actors whereas on the other hand The Crucible is quite different. This is made up of four long acts. This uses lots of sophisticated props for example detailed furniture and crockery. This is all needed to set the time in which the crucible is set. Whereas in After Liverpool the setting is not irrelevant but is not as important. After Liverpool was made up of two characters of not much significance and a series of duologues bar one. After Liverpool is about the lack of communication that can develop over time. The short scenes in this piece are somewhat symbolic to the nature of relationships today. The speed and the fact that long term relationships are not as common. Also most of them are based on sexual attraction, which is now an important thing when looking for a partner. The crucible has many different characters and each of the characters are described and are of quite significance. Compared to After Liverpool where there is no description of the characters. There is no description of characters as it is irrelevant of who you are in this piece as all people are involved or could be involved in a relationship. The crucible is based on a true story and some of the characters were real people. The crucible is an allegory and was written as Arthur Miller wanted to express his views but couldn’t so he uses The Crucible as an allegory to do so. Miller wanted to express his views about the McCarthy communist hunts in America. What he was saying was that if America is so great and believes in freedom why is it that you were killed or exiled for believing in a contrary government to Americas own. Also The Crucibles main theme was mass hysteria and the community being ruled by the church and religion. After Liverpool also uses symbolism in the apples by this is mean is that the apple is representing the forbidden apple from the story of Adam and Eve. Both of theses plays are similar as both are about gaining power in a relationship in the crucible Abigail gains power over John Proctor leading to his death. After Liverpool this is about relationships and communication between couples. It is preformed entirely in chronological order with no flash backs unlike The Crucible tells you about past events. In After Liverpool each scene is wholly about the couples relationship and the communication or lack of the couples lack any past and never refer to the future. The Crucible is very detailed in its explanation of characters, which gives you an idea when performing of how to play each character. In After Liverpool there is no indication and it is entirely down to the person performing the piece. So it is an indication of how the performer sees the scene happening and maybe an indication on how they view relationships. The fact After Liverpool is written like this is also symbolic in that everyone can be in a relationship that is why the characters are labelled M and W. The reason they are labelled M and W is that it can represent anyone, which is rue as anyone can be in a relationship. The scenes did not have to be in any order this is also symbolic that the relationships in the play do not get anywhere they always end up asking the same questions. They had no specific chronological order as everything was happening in the present. Having looked at both plays it has given me an insight of two very effective ways of portraying relationships both of them very different from each other. I preferred performing After Liverpool as I could use my own drama skills to play each character, which I think is a lot better, and I enjoyed it more. Also I found it easier to understand, as it used more modern language, which was easier to learn.

Essay on The Essence Of a Soul - 659 Words

Since the dawn of man, humans have always wanted to seek out the truth. Man has pondered and explored great thoughts and concepts that have caused much confusion. Perhaps the one question that has plagued man the most is what exactly is a soul. During the Roman Era, people believed in many gods, spirits, and life after death. As time progressed, different religious beliefs arose, and new sects of faith were established. The belief in one God replaced the belief in many gods and the belief of ones soul transforming into the after life was established. God was known as a Supreme Being, who gave his creations a soul and free will. But what does this mean? The problem of what exactly ones soul is has been a battle between people throughout†¦show more content†¦Augustine writes, My two wills, one old, one new, one carnal, one spiritual were in conflict and in their conflict wasted my soul (Book 8 Chp.5, pg. 135). Augustine is stating that his soul and his flesh, or will, need to work together; if they dont it will waste his soul away. Thus, with myself as object of the experiment, I came to understand what I had read, how the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh (Book 8 Chp.5, pg. 135). The soul and the will (flesh) need each other in order to exist, they can`t exist separately. Simply stated, one must have inner peace and harmony with their body and soul. Augustine and Hildegard both have different views on the relationship of the will and the soul. Hildegard believes that the soul plays a type of supporting role, the soul is understanding and follows the will`s direction. The will warms the work, the soul supports it... (Vision Four :20 pg. 33). Augustines opinion on the matter is that both the soul and the will are dependant on each other. Without one, the other will waste away. 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