The Analysis of Verbal Behavior

Any disciplinary approach is composed of multiple levels of scientific activity: assump-tions, methods, techniques, concepts, research questions, research answers, and the like. Ap-proaches that are long lived, and particularly those associated with significant intellectual figures, also have substantial histories and tra-ditions, complete with heroes and tales of former battles won. As traditions become more extended, new directions become harder to assimilate, especially if these new directions challenge previously dominant methods or questions, or if the views of historical figures are challenged. Behavior analysis is one of the longer-lived traditions in psychology. Behavior analysis sought nothing less than a comprehensive ac-count of the psychological activity of organ-isms, particularly and ultimately, the complex behavior of human beings, based on a func-tional, monistic, scientific approach. Behavior analysis adopted some unusual tactics in pur-suing this goal, including the emphasis on rela