Verbal Behavior and Complex Decision-Making
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Cognition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 March 2026 | Viewed by 2
Special Issue Editor
Interests: choice; preference; quantitative analyses of behavior; applied machine learning; the influence of verbal behavior on the aforementioned; using behavioral data science to scale basic; decision-making to population level behavioral health; health decision making; ethical behavior
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue of Behavioral Sciences welcomes submissions related to the intriguing area of “Verbal Behavior and Complex Decision-Making”. It seeks to explore the dynamic interplay between verbal processes and the mechanisms underlying human decision-making across a range of contexts—clinical, experimental, organizational, and everyday life.
Verbal behavior reflects and influences patterns of choice, preference, problem-solving, and social coordination. From private rule-governed behavior to public verbal exchanges, language shapes how individuals and groups evaluate alternatives, manage uncertainty, and act in accordance with contingencies. Despite this, much of decision science has historically under-appreciated the central role of language; moreover, verbal behavior research has rarely been integrated with broader models of complex decision-making and behavior outside of behavior analysis.
This Special Issue aims to bridge that gap by gathering original empirical research, theoretical analyses, reviews, and methodological advances that investigate how verbal behavior contributes to, constrains, or enhances complex decision-making. We welcome contributions from diverse subfields, including psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, behavior analysis, organizational science, and behavioral economics.
Topics of interest include the following:
- The role of rule-governed behavior in risky, ethical, or delayed decision-making.
- Verbal regulation of executive function and self-control.
- Experimental analyses of instruction following, compliance, and verbal framing.
- The neural bases of verbal mediation in decision tasks.
- Language-based interventions to improve decision-making or behavior change.
- Interactions between verbal behavior and emotion in decision contexts.
- Computational or formal models of verbal behavior in decision systems.
- Cross-disciplinary perspectives on verbal behavior and complex decision-making.
We particularly encourage submissions that integrate verbal behavior into broader models of decision-making, apply rigorous experimental designs, or demonstrate translational relevance to clinical, educational, or organizational settings.
All submissions will undergo rigorous peer review. Accepted articles will be published rapidly and made freely available as part of this open access Special Issue.
Dr. David J. Cox
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- verbal behavior
- decision-making
- complexity
- choice
- behavioral processes
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