September 18, 2014

September 18, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

This writer is interested in Verbal Behavior, because he is knows all change is driven by it. Even many behaviorists have ignored what Skinner called his most important work: Verbal Behavior (1957). It is easier to do lab-research than to venture into the complexity of human behavior. The majority of behaviorists just want to fit in, have a job and not rock the boat, but behaviorism was meant to and, in this writer's opinion, is still going to, permanently change our world. Any change for the better will depend on deliberate behavioral control and this can only be accomplished by a broader understanding of how our verbal behavior relates to many of our other behaviors. 

Science has already transformed our world and there is no way in which that is going to stop. There is an important lesson to be learned from behaviorologists who have separated themselves from the field of psychology. History proves that separation from the shackles of religion didn’t mean permanent liberation of superstition. To the contrary, with the increase of technology we have become even better at perpetuating our self-inflated, phony ideas of who we supposedly are. Fact remains, however, that only a natural science of human behavior can inform us about why we behave the way we do.

This writer, whose personal history signifies the development from religion to secularism, psychology, radical behaviorism and then to behaviorology, realizes things could happen much more expeditiously if we would have Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). It is the absence of SVB and the ubiquity of our Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB), which keeps mankind mired in ignorance. Said differently, science hasn’t been applied yet to how we talk with each other. Yet, our unresolved and inaccurately described problems have gotten to such proportions that reality itself is increasingly forcing us to look more closely at how we actually talk with one another.

Few behaviorists, who have studied verbal behavior, publish and write papers and books, which, once in a blue moon,lead to some dialogue. Even when such dialogue occurs, the agenda is always predetermined by what has been written. Generally, academics have little free time for casual dialogue, which is postponed to conferences, where, after the presentation of someone’s paper, they meet in hallways and rooms without windows, to beat the written proverbial dead horse. 

This writer has yet to meet with those, who, based on behaviorist opinion, stick to talking as important in and of itself. It should be a no-brainer that vocal verbal behavior is stimulated, shaped and maintained by  different contingencies of reinforcement than writing or reading. If we really want to improve our spoken communication, we must start by talking. The reason we don’t talk is not what we think it is: we don’t know how to talk with each other! If we knew how to talk, we would talk, but since we don’t know, we don’t.

Let's make no mistake: reading about the distinction between SVB and NVB doesn’t and can’t shape the verbal behavior of speakers and listeners. The only stimuli which can set the stage for SVB are those produced by speakers and listeners who engage in actual conversation. To believe that reading (this) is the same as participating in a conversation prevents us from finding out how our interaction works. 

Our insistence on written words is as wrong and as distracting as our belief in a behavior-causing inner agent. We don’t really know how to talk with each other, even though we pretend we do. Our inability to change others reflects our inability to change ourselves. Point is: there is no self and there are no others to be changed. This is when SVB becomes available. SVB is neither about changing others nor about changing ourselves. Our relationship will change when we attain SVB. And we will change as our relationships will change. Unless our relationships change, we will stay the same.