March 7, 2016

March 7, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

Why would a behaviorist write a paper that is titled “Humble Behaviorism” (A. Neuringer, 1991)? And, why would a peer-reviewed journal like “The Behavior Analyst” even publish such a paper? After reading only the title of that paper I had the following thoughts. Someone who is said to be humble is unassuming, unpretentious and respectful. We wouldn’t call a person humble if he or she behaved arrogantly, brazen or privileged. It wouldn’t make any sense for Neuringer to urge his fellow behaviorists to become more humble, if he didn’t believe that they were missing out on something very important that only he knew would further their cause. Likewise, the Dalai Lama wouldn’t repeatedly urge people to be kind, if he wasn’t convinced that most of us are cruel and inhuman and missing out on happiness. Similarly, it is only the unhappy person, who keeps thinking and talking about happiness. A happy person is not trying to be happy; he or she is simply happy and happiness is not his or her concern. Also, someone who is humble is not busy trying to be humble. Only he or she who is not humble is preoccupied with trying to be humble. The same is, of course, true for the author, who thinks that behaviorists should become more humble; he is motivated to do this because he believes behaviorists are arrogant. Moreover, as he wasn’t able to change the environment that gave rise to his own arrogance, he decided to write a paper about it.