November 14, 2014

November 14, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

After this author stumbled upon the natural science of behavior, called behaviorology, he slowly but surely began to change his written language and the way in which he speaks. It became clear to him that he is not, as it says at the top of this page, the author of his writing. There is no author, no agent, who causes this writing, but there are contingencies, which are affecting this author to write these words. At any given day or moment, these contingencies are different and so this author’s writing differs. Similarly, there is nobody causing this author to say things in any particular kind of way. He speaks how he speaks, because of the contingencies which are and which have been affecting him.

This author, like everyone else, couldn’t understand, say, read or write anything he was unfamiliar with. Regardless of what he comes up with, it always builds on or extends what was already there. When we imagine him in China, he would be surrounded by people whose language he doesn’t speak. He may try to speak Mandarin because nobody speaks English, but if he is accompanied by a translator, there was no need for him to learn it. Also, the duration of his stay determines how long he will be exposed to Chinese-speaking people. The longer time he spends in China, the more likely he will pick up on some of the language, even if he would be surrounded by English-speaking Chinese.

If this author would learn some Chinese, he would be naturally inclined to speak and understand it and perhaps learn how to write or read it, because it is something he knows a little and is reinforced by. Russian, by contrast, is totally strange and doesn’t have any appeal, neither does Arabic or Portuguese. The physiological changes, needed to speak, understand, read or write other languages, didn’t and couldn’t occur, unless there was a situation in which these changes could begin to occur. 

The reader, who is able to read and understand this writing, is urged to acknowledge that the experiences that he or she is having, are not caused by him or by her. This author knows about the trouble that is involved in the notion that we cause our own behavior and that are responsible for it. Without behaviorology, it is impossible for anyone to know that this is not true. The belief that we are responsible for causing our own behavior is as ridiculous as saying that we should be able to speak Chinese without ever having been exposed to it. Behavior is caused by environmental variables, by what is known in behaviorism as contingencies of reinforcement.