Abstract:Skinner (1945) and later Leigland (1996) outlined a research program for the functional analysis of terms, to identify the conditions under which mentalistic psychological terms are used (e.g, “intention”). In such a program, the target behavior is verbal, the manipulated conditions may consist of verbal and nonverbal stimuli, and the goal is the pragmatic reformulation of subjective, ambiguous, and hypothetical terms. This program has been adapted to assess verbal behavior in relation to important social issues, such as narcotics trafficking (Sanguinetti & Reyes, 2011). The work of Sasson and Paul (2014) represents a similar line of inquiry with respect to the ambiguity of terms related to sexual violence.

Key words: Commentary, sexual violence, verbal behavior