June 15, 2014

June 15, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

Another important discovery was made. Yesterday, this writer had his last day on his part-time job as a mental health worker at the transitional group home for the mentally ill people. The clients were sad he was leaving and they were saying genuine things in praise of him. It was moving to experience what a beautiful relationship this writer had built with one each of them. This writer felt a sense of gratitude and satisfaction of work that had been well done. Also, some of his colleagues were thanking and respecting him. However, his boss was not there to see him off. She called to wish him luck with his new job. 

The boss seemed to call because she had too. She immediately explained the reason for not being there: she had her foot in a caste, because during the recent camping trip, she had fallen over a log of wood near the campfire. This writer already heard her accusing him that she had fallen over a “log that wasn’t even supposed to be there.” Apparently, she had spoken about this with his colleagues, because they too mentioned to him about the log of wood that she had tripped over. It is ludicrous that this writer had anything to do with his boss’s unfortunate fall over this piece of wood. She had blamed him as she had done so often. This time it was more obvious, because he was leaving. 

When this writer came home, he was reading the nice card that the clients had written for him. He was thinking about his boss’s absence and his colleague’s mention of the “log that wasn’t even supposed to be there.” For a moment, he felt negative about his inability to tell his boss what he really thinks of her, but it had been the correct decision not to talk with his temperamental boss. He had overcome a behavior which had been troubling him his entire life. This time, the public speech of his boss, but also the public speech of his colleagues, wasn’t able to elicit this writer’s private speech anymore. 

The moment this writer realized that the Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) public speech of his boss and some of his colleagues had nothing to do with him, he no longer felt bad. It was his newly developed ability, to separate out public speech from private speech, which, at long last, allowed him to stay out of a discussion in which he would have tried in vain to defend himself or to change others. Said differently, his Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) private speech had protected him from the NVB public speech of others. This was the very first time that this writer felt benefited from his understanding and control over this process. 

For a long time this writer was struggling with the feelings of frustration and resentment that arise in response to the punishing behaviors of others. To be clear, by punishment behaviorists mean the removal of positive reinforcement, such as verbal praise or a present or the presentation of an aversive stimulus, such as scolding or slapping. So, punishment is a deliberate procedure, which would decrease the frequency and intensity of a particular unwanted behavior, such as the acting out behavior of a child.  Whenever someone attempted to change his behavior by humiliating him, by making him feel guilty or by intimidating him, this writer would get upset and would try to prevent others from doing this. He was, however, always unsuccessful in preventing others, but fell victim to his negative emotions, which were used by others as evidence that his behavior needed to be changed and that the punishment was justified and needed to be increased.  

Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is the language of punishment and Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) is the language of positive reinforcement. Although a positive short-term consequence of punishment is that behavior can almost instantly be decreased, the terrible negative consequences far outweigh this insignificant benefit, which blinds so many of us into implementing this procedure again and again. Whatever gain is obtained by punishment in the short-term goes to waste in the long-term. Healthy and happy relationships are based on positive reinforcement, but they will be undermined by punishment, which prevents their development.