April 22, 2015

April 22, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

I had a dream before waking up this morning. I was in a crowd of walking people and many of them were crossing the road. The traffic had slowed down to let the people pass, but a motor cyclist drove through the crowd. He wasn’t going fast and people were jumping out of the way. Some people did that tapped on his shoulders saying “You can’t ride through a crowd like this!” If I had to jump out of the way like that, I would have probably done the same thing. After he had passed through the crowd, annoying everyone, the motor cyclist crashed his rusty, noisy, old bike. It was clear he had done so deliberately. He simply jumped off of his crappy motorcycle and let it run into a wall. He walked back to the crowd and said those who touched him were responsible as they had made him lose his balance. This was not true. He had driven through the crowd without any problem. He demanded that the insurance company had to determine who was going to pay for his damaged bike and I felt incredibly glad I had not touched him. This guy knew exactly what he was doing and now those who had done the right thing were now going to get punished. They were all arguing with this jerk. 

By writing about this dream I am thinking what it might mean. I don’t have a motorcycle. However, one obnoxious student, who, luckily, decided not to be in my class, has a motorcycle. I am glad that I avoided speaking with him yesterday night. He spoke with me before, as he was the last one to leave the class of the previous teacher. As the dream illustrates, behavior operates on our environment. This guy was trying to make others to pay for his worn-out motorcycle. Yesterday night, before the start of my class, I greeted the other teacher, who was getting ready to leave. This same student, barged into our conversation and attempted to attract my attention with his loud and forceful voice. I calmly continued my pleasant conversation with the teacher, who asked if she could sit in my class to observe my teaching. After she left, the student still sat there with all his belongings spread out on the front desk and didn’t appear to get ready to leave. His class with the previous teacher was over, but he didn't make any attempt to move. I was a bit early so adjusted the screens, started the power-point and put up some music. It seemed as if he was waiting for me to say something, but I was getting ready to give my class and I kept quiet. When he noticed he wasn’t going to get my attention, he grabbed his big helmet from the table and left the room without saying goodbye. My nonverbal behavior had made things clear. 

The verbal operant is defined by its effect on a listener. However, due to my previous conditioning and an unusual change in the environment, this time another behavior was selected. The change that occurred due to my lack of verbal behavior was noticeable. As a consequence, my arousal levels were so low that I was able to feel calm and focused. Although in the past I would have said something, I felt I didn't need to get involved with this person. As I have also began to notice on various other occasions, absence of verbal operants can be crucially important for the listener to get the message.