Skinner argues that we know our private world less accurately than we know the world around us because the verbal community cannot directly reinforce knowledge (or discriminations) about private events. This paper examined Skinner's argument and suggests that it is true by necessity and that the argument is, probably, a case of verbal behavior in the forms of tacting and guessing.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CataniaA. C. (1984) Learning. (2nd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
2.
HurleyP. P. (1985) A concise introduction to logic. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
3.
LycanW. G. (1984) Skinner and the mind-body problem. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 634–635.
4.
MooreJ. (1980) On behaviorism and private events. Psychological Record, 30, 459–475.
5.
SkinnerB. F. (1938) The behavior of organisms. New York: Appleton.
6.
SkinnerB. F. (1957) Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
7.
SkinnerB. F. (1961) Cumulative record. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
8.
SkinnerB. F. (1963) Behaviorism at fifty. Science, 140, 951–958.
9.
WellmanH. M. (1984) The development of concepts of the mental world. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 651–652.
10.
ZentallT. R. (1984) In support of cognitive theories. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 654–655.