An Examination of Self-Editing Behavior on the Part of the Listener
From an operant analysis, self-editing is described as complex verbal behavior that occurs when a speaker engages (or almost engages), in verbal behavior and makes changes to the response prior to affording access to it on the part of an external listener. Following this conceptualization by Skinner in 1957, very few experimental preparations have examined this verbal phenomenon from a behavior analytic perspective (Hyten & Chase, 1991; Epting, 2003). The current study suggests a reconceptualization of self-editing behavior using an interbehavioral approach to verbal interactions (Kantor, 1977). As such, self-editing behavior is described as a verbal event in which a listener can participate. From this reconceptualization, an experiment was programmed to allow for the examination of self-editing behavior on the part of the listener. The results were analyzed with respect to the interbehavioral perspective, and revealed that 19 of 20 participants, functioning as a listener, engaged in self-editing behavior.
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