Verbal Conditioning Without Awareness: a Case Study

Abstract

To illustrate verbal conditioning without awareness, the data and answers to a post-experimental questionnaire of one subject are presented. The subject was reinforced for selecting one response alternative, to be used in a sentence, when presented with pairs of conceptually related items differing in size implications. Number of correct responses increased substantially from operant to reinforced trials, but the answers of the subject to the questionnaire revealed no insight on his part into the response-reinforcement contingency. The case study supports the view that conditioning and awareness are functionally independent events.