January 30, 2016

January 30, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

The Framers weren’t behavioral scientists, but believers in God who did the best they could in writing a document which would “first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself” (The Federalist). Had they been behavioral engineers, they would have only written about the “external control of government” and leave the “internal control on government” to their angels and God. Benjamin Franklin, who believed in a “beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits live and move and have their being”, espouses Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) as he has “so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence.” The fact is that priest and politicians have attempted, but failed at behavioral engineering. 

  

Also, George Washington, who stated “The adoption of the Constitution will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it,” is carried away by religious make-believe, which has nothing to do with how environmental variables determine the behavior of those who govern as well as those who are governed. Although it says in the Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” our behavior is not determined by an imaginary higher power, but by our surroundings, that is, by other people. 

The person who grows up in an abusive environment is, of course, negatively affected. The laws about human behavior trump religious fantasies about “unalienable Rights.” Besides, there is nothing “self-evident” about how schedules of reinforcement determine the frequency of behavior. To know about this requires study which is only possible if we suspend pre-scientific beliefs about the causes of behavior.  America has produced a B.F. Skinner, but it still hangs on to a Declaration of Independence, which firmly relies on “the protection of divine Providence” and states  that “the character” of “the Prince”, who answered “our repeated petitions” for “redress” only “by repeated injury”, is defined as “a Tyrant,” who is “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” It is time to let go of these Founding Fathers and to honor and respect Skinner’s work.