Introductory Concepts
Elementary Relationships
Extensions of Verbal Behavior
Multiple Controlling Relationships
Building on the Elementary Relationships
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15.1 Review of Formal Control

All of the elementary verbal relationships we have studied thus far—echoic behavior, copying a text, taking dictation, and textual behavior—are examples of formal control; that is, they are functional relationships in which there is point-to-point correspondence between the controlling stimulus and the evoked response.

Formal Control

When a controlling variable evokes a response and has the following features:

There is point-to-point correspondence between the controlling variable and the response

Whether or not there is formal similarity between the controlling variable and the response

Formal characteristics of either the controlling variable or the response

Dynamic characteristics of either the controlling variable or the response

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