July 31, 2014

July 31, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

Is this author going to speak spontaneously on the audition coming Monday or is he going to write, plan and rehearse the presentation, which maximally may last six minutes? The advantage of the latter is that this author would know exactly what to say, but his preference is for the former is because it feels more comfortable and natural. To prepare and to predetermine communication is not communication, but Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). We keep missing out on Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB), because we speak in a predetermined manner. 

In NVB speakers only sell their message, but they never really communicate. Listeners, who want to be sold on what a speaker says, don’t buy into it if the speaker doesn’t convince them. As long as we are dealing with someone who is trying to prove what they are saying, we are not communicating. Although we behave verbally, in NVB, our speech is a function of negative emotions. In NVB we make it seem as if we communicate, but we use each other as means to our ends. For instance, the speaker wants to be right and the listener only listens to someone he or she believes is right. In NVB, the listener is right, because the speaker is right. That is, listeners buy into the illusion of NVB. 

Why are we so eager to be sold on a feel-good message? Anyone who knows about sales is aware that customers have a need, which supposedly is fulfilled by what is sold. This need is called Establishing Operations in Behaviorism. What is lacking is provided by the sales representatives. When clients buy, their negative feelings go away. This conditioning process is called Negative Reinforcement. Likewise, we take more pills to make headaches go away or keep to the speed limit to avoid getting a speeding ticket. Since most speech is based on selling and buying, NVB is an escape behavior, which increases because it takes us away from the reality. In NVB we dissociate from our negative emotions, but in SVB we are conscious, because we reinforce and increase each other’s positive emotions. We are not and we cannot be sold on SVB, because it is not for sale. Only Positive Reinforcement sets the stage for SVB in which verbalizers and mediators take turns and will listen to themselves while they speak.