Modification and Generalization of Verbal Behavior as a Function of Direct Verbal Intervention

The generalization of verbal conditioning within a personal interview context for 24 male and 24 female college students was studied. During training, subjects were reinforced and directed to produce positive self-references in one group and negative self-references in another. The latter showed generalization but positive self-references did not change. These data suggest that this positive affect resists transfer and may account for the poor to mixed results of conventional psychotherapeutic situations where talking prevails. </jats:p