Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 2: Are We Free to Have a Future? Quote 11

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Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 2: Are We Free to Have a Future? Quote 11

Post author:B. F. Skinner Foundation
Post published:July 3, 2019
Post category:Skinner's Quote of the Day

“All we can change are the circumstances in which people live, and we want to change them in such a way that people will behave differently. We are on safer and more promising ground if we stick to the behavior.” (p. 18)

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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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“All we can change are the circumstances in which people live, and we want to change them in such a way that people will behave differently. We are on safer and more promising ground if we stick to the behavior.” (p. 18)

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