About Behaviorism, Chapter 6: Verbal Behavior, Quote 7

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About Behaviorism, Chapter 6: Verbal Behavior, Quote 7

Post author:B. F. Skinner Foundation
Post published:May 3, 2017
Post category:Skinner's Quote of the Day

“We may look for the meaning of a word in the dictionary, but dictionaries do not give meanings; at best they give other words having the same meanings.” (p. 103)

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SKINNER'S QUOTE OF THE DAY

Verbal Behavior: Extended Edition. Chapter 8: The Verbal Operant as a Unit of Analysis. Quote 5
The pathological condition of verbal behavior called aphasia often emphasizes functional differences which are hard to understand in terms of the traditional account … The aphasic has lost some of the functional relationships which control his verbal behavior. A response of a given form may no longer be under the control of one functional relation, although it is still under the control of another. (p. 190)
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“We may look for the meaning of a word in the dictionary, but dictionaries do not give meanings; at best they give other words having the same meanings.” (p. 103)

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