The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

Verbal Behavior and Relational Frame Theory: Session 80 with David Palmer and Josh Pritchard

Mar 29, 2019

Guest

Josh Pritchard

Guest

David C. Palmer

David Palmer, a veteran behavior analyst and scholar known for his work on verbal behavior, teams up with Josh Pritchard, an expert in ABA service scaling. They discuss the distinctions between Skinner's approach and Relational Frame Theory (RFT). Palmer critiques RFT while championing problem-solving as a means to analyze relational responding. Pritchard highlights RFT's utility in interpreting language nuances. The conversation shifts to practical applications for clinicians, emphasizing the importance of data-based decisions and flexible training methods.

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ANECDOTE

Walden Two Sparked A Career

David Palmer read Walden Two in a car trip and became a committed Skinnerian who pursued community projects and behavior analysis.
He visited B.F. Skinner after writing a fan letter and discussed his interests, which helped shape his career path.

ANECDOTE

Fan Letter Led To Harvard Visit

Palmer wrote a fan letter to B.F. Skinner and received a quick personal invitation to meet at Harvard.
Skinner replied promptly and had efficient templates for correspondence, reflecting his commitment to advancing the field.

INSIGHT

Memory Often Looks Like Problem Solving

Palmer distinguishes memory as endurance of stimulus control versus memory as problem solving that requires mediating behavior.
He argues many 'memory' answers arise from covert problem-solving that supplies additional cues before responding.

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My original plan was to chat with Drs. David Palmer and Josh Pritchard about the distinctions between the Verbal Behavior, or traditional Skinnerian approach to language and cognition, and Relational Frame Theory. Well, what happened was we had a technical glitch that prevented Josh from joining Dave and me, so for the first 15-20 minutes, it's just the two of us… Fortunately, we figured out the problem, and then Josh was able to join the conversation. So think of this podcast as being presented in two acts. What was great about this conversation was how amiably my guests were able to talk about these differing points of view. What was disappointing about this conversation… was how amiably my guests were able to talk about these differing points of view. I'm kidding of course. And this is a topic I would like to return to from time to time. I would love to hear what you think about it, so please go to the show notes for this episode, or comment on your social media channel of choice. We mentioned a handful of articles, and I've tried my best to provide links below. I may have missed one here and there, so let me know if you catch a reference that didn't make it into the session notes. And while you're at behavioralobservations.com, sign up for the newsletter, and you'll get the show notes for subsequent episodes delivered directly to your email inbox. Data in Search of a Principle (Palmer, 2004) A Behavioral Interpretation of Memory (Palmer, 1991) Stimulus Equivalence and Arbitrary Applicable Relational Responding (Steele and Hayes, 1991) Relational Frame Theory: An Overview of the Controversy (Gross and Fox, 2009) Caio Miguel's Google Scholar page Some Logical Functions of Joint Control (Lowenkron, 1998) Some Thoughts on the Relation Between Derived Relation Responding and Verbal Behavior (Moore, 2015) Session 80 of this podcast was brought to you by the following: The Essential for Living assessment and curriculum. Get free shipping on all purchases until June 1st by using the discount code EFLBOP0501 NH ABA is hosting Dr. Solandy Forte on April 19th from 9-12 in Bedford NH for a CEU event. The title of the event is Navigating through Cultural Barriers in Applied Behavior Analysis, and is good for 3 Ethics CE's. Again, for links to this event, simply go to the show notes for this episode, or visit NHABA.net Lastly, Remote Fieldwork Supervision for BCBA Trainees, the book I co-wrote with Dr. Lisa Britton, who is an expert in providing high quality distance based supervision, is now out.