Despite Skinner's (1957) assertion that verbal operants are initially functionally independent, recent studies have suggested that in some cases the acquisition of one verbal operant (e.g., mand) gives rise to the other (e.g., tact) without explicit training. The present study aimed to evaluate the functional independence of mands and tacts during…

In an attempt to develop an instrument to screen emotionally disturbed children, a study was designed to verify and extend previous research findings. These findings indicated that adjusted children in kindergarten exhibited greater conditionality on a simple discrimination learning task than maladjusted pupils under a process of continuous mild…