Definitions
This operant involves repeating what someone else says.
Echoic
Someone says “How are you?” and the child replies “Good.”
Intraverbal
What is the reinforcer for a mand?
Access to the specific item or outcome being requested.
This operant involves labeling something in the environment.
Tact
A teacher says “cat,” and the student says “cat.”
Echoic
What typically reinforces a tact?
Generalized conditioned reinforcement (e.g., praise).
This verbal operant is controlled by a motivating operation and results in a specific reinforcer.
Mand
A child says “cookie” when they’re hungry and want a cookie.
Mand
What is missing in an intraverbal that makes it different from echoic?
Point-to-point correspondence.
SD and response are identical beginning to end in an echoic but NOT in an intraverbal.
This operant involves responding to others’ verbal behavior with a related but different response.
Intraverbal
A child says “dog” when they see a dog.
Tact
This term means that the echoed response has the same form/modality as the SD (e.g., spoken to spoken).
Formal Similarity