A verbal operant responding to another's verbal behavior without direct reinforcement is known as?

A verbal operant responding to another's verbal behavior without direct reinforcement is known as?

• A. Mand
• B. Echoic
• C. Intraverbal
• D. Tact

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is about how verbal responses are controlled in Skinner’s framework. An intraverbal is a verbal response that is prompted by someone else’s spoken words but does not imitate those words exactly. It occurs in ongoing conversation and is not a direct echo of the prior statement; the response is under the control of the verbal stimulus but the exact form of the answer isn’t a repetition. So, when you respond to what someone else just said with a different but related word or sentence (for example, answering a question like “What color is the sky?” with “Blue”), you’re engaging in an intraverbal. The reinforcement typically comes from the social interaction and the continuation of the conversation, not from repeating the exact words you heard. This distinguishes it from echoic, which is literal repetition of what was heard and usually relies on direct reinforcement for matching the spoken form.

The main idea here is about how verbal responses are controlled in Skinner’s framework. An intraverbal is a verbal response that is prompted by someone else’s spoken words but does not imitate those words exactly. It occurs in ongoing conversation and is not a direct echo of the prior statement; the response is under the control of the verbal stimulus but the exact form of the answer isn’t a repetition.

So, when you respond to what someone else just said with a different but related word or sentence (for example, answering a question like “What color is the sky?” with “Blue”), you’re engaging in an intraverbal. The reinforcement typically comes from the social interaction and the continuation of the conversation, not from repeating the exact words you heard. This distinguishes it from echoic, which is literal repetition of what was heard and usually relies on direct reinforcement for matching the spoken form.