The development of self and perspective-taking: A relational frame analysis.

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, behavior analysis emphasizes the imponanl role played by self�knowledge in complex human behavior, particularly social and verbal behavior (Dymond .t Barnes, 1997). According 10 Skinner (t974), sclf­ awareness or self�iscrimination is shaped through verbal interaclio� with others thereby allowing for greater predic� lion and inOuence ave; an individual's own behavior. It is only when a person's �rivate world �omes im�t to others that it becomes Imponant to him. By askmg ques· tions such as "How are you feeling", for example, other members of the verbal community are, in effect, shaping an individual's ability to respond discriminatively tow� hislher own behavior. The person is "made aware of him· self" by such questions and is thus in a better position to predict and control his own behavior (Skinner, 1974, p. 31). Skinner, therefore, accounted for the devel?pment .of human self·awareness in lerms of complex SOCial contm­ gencies. One prominent research stra�e� that emerged from this interpretation involved determining whether self­ discrimination was a uniquely human phenomenon, or whether non-humans could also discriminate their own be­ havior. A number of studies have answered this question by demonstrating that the behavior of pigeons, for example, may be brought under the control of the �igeons' own p�e� vious response patterns (lanai, 1975; Phskoff & . Goldla� mond 1966' Reynolds, 1966: Reynotds & Calanla, 1962: and Shimp, i982). Although such finding have provided