45.21 Autoclitic Example

The first type of autoclitic results from the fact that listeners eventually demand more and more information about the stimulus conditions controlling a speaker’s verbal behavior. For a listener to hear a speaker say, “It’s raining” is not sufficient. If it’s only an echoic or textual response, no practical action may be taken. However, if it is a tact, controlled by the visual non-verbal stimulus of rain falling, some practical action, such as getting an umbrella, is generally taken. As a result, listeners tend to reinforce verbal behavior that not only is controlled by certain stimuli, but which also describes the nature of that controlling relationship.