Tact
A verbal operant in which a person names or describes something they see, hear, smell, taste or touch; it is evoked by a nonverbal stimulus and maintained by social reinforcement.
A tact is a label or comment about something in the environment. The controlling antecedent is a nonverbal stimulus: an object, action, picture, sound or even an internal sensation. Saying "airplane" when hearing a plane overhead, or "It's hot" when touching warm water, are tacts. The response is usually reinforced by generalized conditioned reinforcement, such as praise, attention or agreement, rather than by the item itself.
Tacts are taught by presenting the stimulus, adding a prompt such as an echoic model if needed, and reinforcing the correct label. A teaching instruction such as "What is it?" is often added, but the goal is for the object or event itself to control the response, so plans may later fade the question.
The same word can be different operants depending on why it is said. "Cookie" said while pointing at a cookie in a picture book and followed by "Yes, a cookie!" is a tact. "Cookie" said because the learner is hungry and followed by getting a cookie is a mand. RBTs need to deliver the consequence that matches the operant being taught.
Tacting helps the learner share experiences, answer questions and build vocabulary.
Example and non-example
| Example | On a walk in the park, a teen points and says "Duck!" and the RBT replies "You spotted a duck!" |
|---|---|
| Non-example | A child says "Bubbles" because they want the RBT to blow more bubbles, and the RBT blows bubbles. That is a mand. |
Don't confuse it with
Test yourself
-
Question 1During a tact program, a client correctly says "red" when shown a red block. Which praise statement names the response that is being taught?
Show answer
A: "You said red, that's right!". Behavior-specific praise names the response that was correct, which makes clear what is being reinforced.
- B: General praise does not tell the client which response was correct.
- C: This praises sitting, not the tact that was the target.
- D: Thanks does not describe the response that earned praise.
Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 2While looking at a picture book, a child points to a truck and says "truck." The adult says "Yes, a red truck!" Which verbal operant did the child use?
Show answer
C: Tact. A tact is a response controlled by something the speaker sees, hears or otherwise contacts, and it is maintained by social reinforcement such as the adult's comment.
- A: A mand is controlled by wanting something and reinforced by getting it; here the child named a picture.
- B: An echoic repeats someone else's words; no one said "truck" first.
- D: An intraverbal responds to someone else's words; here the picture controlled the response.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section A · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 3A child reaches for a toy car and says "car." The RBT says "Yes, that's a car!" and puts the car back on the shelf to keep it available for later. What is the main problem?
Show answer
A: The mand was not reinforced with the car. The child's reach and word show a mand for the car. Treating it like a tact, with praise only, leaves the request unreinforced; the RBT should hand over the car.
- B: The target in the scenario is not a full sentence; the issue is that the request was not reinforced.
- C: Praise can reinforce many responses, but a mand is reinforced by the item requested.
- D: Ignoring a correct request would put the mand on extinction.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section A · 40-hour curriculum section E
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.4 Naturalistic teaching in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.