45.20 The Autoclitic

Furthermore, we can discriminate between strong and weak stimulation. We say, “I can see clearly” or “I can barely see it.” In other words, an aspect of the controlling relationships itself can be a stimulus that has features that can come to control verbal responses just the way other stimuli or stimulus features do. This is equally true of verbal relationships. The relationship itself can become a controlling variable. This fact is the key to an important category of verbal behavior that Skinner has called the autoclitic.