Abstract
Word emotion data were used to explore whether the two languages of bilingual speakers represent one or two verbal repertoires. Spanish–English bilinguals and monolingual speakers of Spanish and English rated the pleasantness of behavior analysis and general clinical terms in Spanish and English translations. Bilinguals' pleasantness ratings of Spanish and English terms were more similar than those made by Spanish and English monolinguals. This finding suggests that the Spanish and English listener repertoires of bilinguals are integrated, as one might expect from a derived stimulus relations perspective. Two control studies ruled out alternative explanations. We discuss the general importance of bilingual research in behavior analysis and the challenges of replicating and extending this finding and of reconciling it with the apparently contrasting results of mainstream investigations of bilingual repertoires.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Raw data files may be requested from the first author.
Notes
In past work, professional words not unique to behavior analysis were perceived as generally more pleasant than behavior analysis terms (Critchfield et al., 2017a, b). We thought it possible that the magnitude of this effect could differ for same- versus between-individual comparisons, but found no such effects and therefore present our results with the two types of professional terms pooled.
It doesn't appear to matter what specific words are used for calibration and control purposes, as long as they are commonly encountered (i.e., familiar) and represent the desired word emotion norms. Across studies we have gotten equally good results with a variety of such words.
After our study was conducted, the BACB updated its glossary (see Appendix for terms that differ from those in the 2018 update), and eventually stopped publishing glossaries altogether.
There is no ideal solution to the problem of which language to use for instructions given to bilinguals. We could have randomly assigned some to receive Spanish instructions and some to receive English instructions, but our N was too small to allow a reliable evaluation of whether this systematically affected the results. Thus we thought it best to be consistent across bilingual participants and chose Spanish arbitrarily for the language of instructions. This makes for an unbalanced design, although there is no evidence across our three studies that Spanish instructions correlate with particular effects. Were we to replicate, we would give bilinguals the instructions in both languages.
One study asked whether expertise in one language might interfere with acquisition of a second one. This is relevant to the Integrated Repertoire Hypothesis of the present investigation; however, the study employed laboratory analog procedures (excluding natural language stimuli) in individuals who were not bilingual (Houmanfar et al., 2005).
Because participants typically require only a few seconds to make each rating, bilinguals spent an additional 4 or 5 min in the rating procedure.
References
Bailey, J. S. (1991). Marketing behavior analysis requires different talk. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24, 445–448. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1991.24-445
Becirevic, A., Critchfield, T. S., & Reed, D. D. (2016). On the social acceptability of behavior-analytic terms: Crowdsourced comparisons of lay and technical language. The Behavior Analyst, 39, 305–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-016-0067-4
Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1999). Affective norms for English words (ANEW): Stimuli, instructions manual and affective ratings(Technical Report No. C-1). University of Florida, NIMH Center for Research in Psychophysiology.
Brodhead, M. T., Durán, L., & Bloom, S. E. (2014). Cultural and linguistic diversity in recent verbal behavior research on individuals with disabilities: A review and implications for research and practice. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 30, 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-014-0009-8
Bui, D. C., Myerson, J., & Hale, S. (2015). Age-related slowing in online samples. The Psychological Record, 65, 649–655. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-015-0135-2
Caldwell-Harris, C. L., & Ayçiçeği-Dinn, A. (2009). Emotion and lying in a non-native language. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 71, 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.09.006
Chadwell, M. R., Sikorski, J. D., Roberts, H., & Allen, K. D. (2018). Process versus content in delivering ABA services: Does process matter when you have content that works? Behavior Analysis: Research & Practice, 19(1), 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/bar0000143
Critchfield, T. S., Becirevic, A., & Reed, D. D. (2016). In Skinner's early footsteps: Analyzing verbal behavior in large public corpora. The Psychological Record, 66, 639–647. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-016-0197-9
Critchfield, T. S., Becirevic, A., & Reed, D. D. (2017a). On the social validity of behavior analytic communication: A call for research and description of one method. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 33, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-017-0077-7
Critchfield, T. S., & Doepke, K. J. (2018). Emotional overtones of behavior analysis terms in English and five other languages. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 11, 97–105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-0222-3
Critchfield, T. S., Doepke, K. J., Epting, L. K., Becirevic, A., Reed, D. D., Fienup, D. F., Kremsreiter, J. L., & Ecott, C. L. (2017b). Normative emotional responses to behavior analysis jargon: How not to use words to win friends and influence people. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 10(2), 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0161-9
Critchfield, T. S., & Shue, E. Z. H. (2022). Is JABA the funniest behavior analysis journal? A multimethod investigation. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28345.24161/1
Crump, M. J. C., McDonnell, J. V., & Gureckis, T. M. (2013). Evaluating Amazon’s mechanical Turk as a tool for experimental behavioral research. PLoS One, 8(3), e57410. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057410
Dodds, P. S., Clark, E. M., Desu, S., Frank, M. R., Reagan, A. J., Williams, J. R., Mitchell, L., Harris, K. D., Kloumann, I. M., Bagrow, J. P., Megerdoomian, K., McMahon, M. T., Tivnan, B. F., & Danforth, C. M. (2015). Human language reveals a universal positivity bias. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 2389–2394. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1411678112
Devany, J. M., Hayes, S. C., & Nelson, R. O. (1986). Equivalence class formation in language-able and language-disabled children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 46, 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1986.46-243
Dong, Y., & Li, P. (2015). The cognitive science of bilingualism. Language & Linguistics Compass, 9, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12099
Dymond, S., & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2000). Understanding complex behavior: The transformation of stimulus functions. The Behavior Analyst, 23, 239–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392013
Eilola, T. M., Havelka, J., & Sharma, D. (2007). Emotional activation in the first and second language. Cognition & Emotion, 21, 1064–1076. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930601054109
Foxx, R. M. (1996). Translating the covenant: The behavior analyst as ambassador and translator. The Behavior Analyst, 19, 147–161. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393162
Francis, W. S. (1999). Cognitive integration of language and memory in bilinguals: Semantic representation. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 193–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.193
Genesee, F. (1989). Early bilingual development: One language or two? Journal of Child Language, 16, 161–179. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900013490
Gollan, T. H., & Ferreira, V. S. (2009). Should I stay or should I switch? A cost–benefit analysis of voluntary language switching in young and aging bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 35, 640–665. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014981
Harris, C. L., Ayçíçeğí, A., & Gleason, J. B. (2003). Taboo words and reprimands elicit greater autonomic reactivity in a first language than in a second language. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 24, 561–579. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716403000286
Harms, P. D., & DeSimone, J. A. (2015). Caution! Mturk workers ahead—Fines doubled. Industrial Organizational Psychology, 8, 183–190. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.23
Hauser, D. J., & Schwarz, N. (2015). It’s a trap! Instructional manipulation checks prompt systemic thinking on “tricky” tasks. SAGE Open, 5, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/215824401558461
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (Eds.). (2001). In Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition. Springer.
Hasegawa, M., Carpenter, P. A., & Just, M. A. (2002). An fMRI study of bilingual sentence comprehension and workload. Neuroimage, 15, 647–660. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.1001
Hervais-Adelman, A. G., Moser-Mercer, B., & Golestani, N. (2011). Executive control of language in the bilingual brain: Integrating the evidence from neuroimaging to neuropsychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 234. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00234
Houmanfar, R., Hayes, L. J., & Herbst, S. A. (2005). An analog study of first language dominance and interference over second language. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 21, 75–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393011
Johnson, P. S., Herrmann, E. S., & Johnson, M. W. (2015). Opportunity costs of reward delays and the discounting of hypothetical money and cigarettes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 103, 87–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.110
Johnston, J. M., & Pennypacker, H. S. (1980). Strategies and tactics of behavioral research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Joyce, B. G., Joyce, J. H., & Wellington, B. (1993). Using stimulus equivalence procedures to teach relationships between English and Spanish words. Education & Treatment of Children, 16, 48–65.
Kenner, C. (2004). Living in simultaneous worlds: Difference and integration in bilingual script-learning. International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 7, 43–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050408667800
Kolić-Vehovec, S., & Bajšanski, I. (2007). Comprehension monitoring and reading comprehension in bilingual students. Journal of Research in Reading, 30, 198–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2006.00319.x
Lin, A. M. (1996). Bilingualism or linguistic segregation1? Symbolic domination, resistance and code switching in Hong Kong schools. Linguistics & Education, 8, 49–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(96)90006-6
Lindsley, O. R. (1991). From technical jargon to plain English for application. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24, 449–458. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1991.24-449
Maneva, B., & Genesee, F. (2002). Bilingual babbling: Evidence for language differentiation in dual language acquisition. Proceedings of the Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 26, 383–392.
Marin, G., Sabogal, F., Marin, B. V., Otero-Sabogal, R., & Perez-Stable, E. J. (1987). Development of a short acculturation scale for Hispanics. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9, 183–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/07399863870092005
May, R. J., Downs, R., Marchant, A., & Dymond, S. (2016). Emergent verbal behavior in preschool children learning a second language. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49, 711–716. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.301
Morris, V., Amlung, M., Kaplan, B. A., Reed, D. D., Petker, T., & MacKillop, J. (2017). Using crowdsourcing to examine behavioral economic measures of alcohol value and proportionate alcohol reinforcement. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 25, 314. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000130
Oksaar, E. (1971). Code switching as an interactional strategy for developing bilingual competence. Word, 27, 377–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1971.11435633
Pavlenko, A. (2008). Emotion and emotion-laden words in the bilingual lexicon. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 11, 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728908003283
Polson, D. A., & Parsons, J. A. (2000). Selection-based versus topography-based responding: An important distinction for stimulus equivalence? Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 17, 105–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392959
Sayer, P. (2013). Translanguaging, TexMex, and bilingual pedagogy: Emergent bilinguals learning through the vernacular. TESOL Quarterly, 47, 63–88. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.53
Shapiro, D. N., Chandler, J., & Mueller, P. A. (2013). Using mechanical Turk to study clinical populations. Clinical Psychological Science, 1, 213–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/216770261246901
Shook, A., & Viorica, M. (2013). The bilingual language interaction network for comprehension of speech. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 16, 304–324. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728912000466
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research. Basic Books.
Sidman, M. (1986). Functional analysis of emergent verbal classes. In T. Thompson & M. D. Zeiler (Eds.), Analysis and integration of behavioral units (pp. 213–245). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Stadthagen-Gonzalez, H., Imbault, C., Sánchez, M. A. P., & Brysbaert, M. (2017). Norms of valence and arousal for 14,031 Spanish words. Behavior Research Methods, 49, 111–123. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-015-0700-2
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Prentice Hall.
Summerville, A., & Chartier, C. R. (2013). Pseudo-dyadic “interaction” on Amazon’s mechanical Turk. Behavior Research Methods, 45, 116–124. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0250-9
Toribio, A. J. (2001). On the emergence of bilingual code-switching competence. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 4, 203–231. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728901000414
Virues-Ortega, J. (2014). English-Spanish glossary of behavioral terms. StudyLib. https://studylib.net/doc/18336883/english-spanish-glossary-of-behavioral-terms
Warriner, A. B., & Kuperman, V. (2015). Affective biases in English are bi-dimensional. Cognition & Emotion, 29, 1147–1167. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.968098
Warriner, A. B., Kuperman, V., & Brysbaert, M. (2013). Norms of valence, arousal, and dominance for 13,915 English lemmas. Behavior Research Methods, 45, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0314-x
Washio, Y., & Houmanfar, R. (2007). Role of contextual control in second language performance. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 23, 41–56. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393046
Witt, J. C., Moe, G., Gutkin, T. B., & Andrews, L. (1984). The effect of saying the same thing in different ways: The problem of language and jargon in school-based consultation. Journal of School Psychology, 22, 361–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-4405(84)90023-2
Funding
No external funding was associated with this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
This research was approved and overseen by the Illinois State University Institutional Review Board.
Competing Interests
The authors declare no competing interest, financial or otherwise, related to this article.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This study was part of Daisy Bueno’s doctoral dissertation at Illinois State University, for which Jillian Reiher and Emilio Lobato provided valuable technical assistance.
Appendix
Appendix
Study 1: Word emotion ratings of 36 behavior analysis and 33 general clinical terms in Spanish and English forms. Spanish and English terms were rated by the same bilingual participants and by different monolingual participants. In all cases, N = 22. Also shown, when available, are previously established norms for English (from Warriner et al., 2013) and Spanish (from Stadthagen-Gonzalez et al., 2017) versions of the terms.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Bueno, D., Zimmerman, C., Critchfield, T.S. et al. Do Bilinguals Have One Verbal Repertoire or Two? Evidence from Listener Word-Emotion Responses. Psychol Rec (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-023-00545-1
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-023-00545-1