| Sumario: | The aim of this study was to provide a test of B. F. Skinner's hypotheses about verbal behavior (22) and reinforcement principles. An experiment was set up to test the criticisms of antibehaviorists, perhaps best epitomized by Noam Chomsky's attack (6, 9). The main hypothesis to be tested was that reinforcement is not something specially contrived in laboratories with animal subjects (pace Chomsky), but the process under the constraints of which ordinary people behave in normal social situations. With the use of a coding system based on the verbal operants defined by Skinner supplemented by affect categories from Bales' system (1, 2), behaviors in four different kinds of "live" groups, as well as verbal transcripts and videotape recordings of these "live" sessions, were coded. These provided the basis for a functional analysis of the group interactions. A computer analysis of the codings was carried out through specialty prepared computer programs. These analyzed the ongoing interactions of group members in terms of the trimember sequence of (a) discriminative stimulus, (b) response, and (c) reinforcement. These and subsequent analyses determined whether or not fluctuations in the rates of emission of particular verbal operants were under the control of contingencies of reinforcement. The attempt was made to discover whether causal relationships could be specifically defined and charted in relation to the trimember sequences. Periods of increase for a total of 439 operants emitted by 31 individuals in four groups were analyzed in this way. It is concluded from the analysis that a prima facie case has been established for the following general principles: (a) the verbal operant categories, as defined, satisfactorily describe all the communicative behavior we have observed. Our system, based on Skinner's analysis of behavior, supplemented by Bales' affect categories, is comprehensive, functional, and operational; (b) the basic principles of the experimental analy
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