Reflections on Verbal Behavior at 60 - BEHP1216 Reflects on 60 years of Skinner's Verbal Behavior, beginning with a brief description of the conditions under which Skinner began writing the book and describing the controversy ignited when Chomsky (1959) penned his review. Includes Skinner's (1972) reply to Chomsky and briefly describes MacCorquodale's (1970) thorough debunking of Chomsky's critique. Discusses the controversy surrounding the book within behavior analysis by proponents of relational frame theory (RFT) and provides rebuttals to their critiques. Describes features of the book that make it such a powerful theory of human language, along with two related theoretical extensions of the analysis: the behaviors involved in listening and how the behavior of the listener can be instructed or conditioned. Analyzes a simple example of derived relational responding provided by RFT proponents, critiques their explanation and offers a more parsimonious explanation in terms of the basic operant unit of analysis.