Verbal Behavior - Autoclitics

Autoclitics

An autoclitic is a form of verbal behavior which modifies the functions of other forms of verbal behavior. For example, "I think it is raining" possesses the autoclitic "I think" which moderates the strength of the statement "it is raining". An example of research that involved autoclitics would be Lodhi & Greer (1989).

One form of autoclitic of critical importance in the development of language, is Skinner's concept of the autoclitic frame. Autoclitic frames help for rapid learning of new verbal behavior and the building of rules. Stemmer (2000) holds: "(1) The events are responsible for the productive character of listener behavior and, via the transfer effect, of verbal behavior in general. (2) Together with ostensive events, the events are responsible for most aspects, probably even for all aspects, of early listener behavior. (3) Because ostensive learning does not require the repeated reinforcement of specific responses to vocal stimuli, the events are the main cause of the explosion in early verbal behavior."