May 12, 2016

May 12, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

Let me be very clear, we have had a lot of Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB), but only a little bit of Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). We are not going to have more SVB because we are tired of NVB. Many people are sick and tired of NVB, yet they keep having it. And, we are also not going to have less NVB, because we like SVB better. Many people like SVB much better than NVB, yet this so-called motivation doesn’t decrease their NVB. Presumably, many people want a better world, but their NVB happens at a high response rate and their SVB happens at a low response rate. Nothing changes the way we talk unless we listen to ourselves while we speak. However, knowing that one has to listen to one self while one speaks is not going to cut it either. It is definitely important to know that one can listen to one self while one speaks, but this is only possible under certain circumstances. Those who experiment with the SVB/NVB distinction find out about the circumstances in which they listen to themselves while they speak. Without such experimentation, we cannot find out about what it actually takes to listen to ourselves while we speak. I or someone else can tell you to listen to yourself and that can be a start, but you still have to listen to yourself without me or without anyone telling you. It is like making music. How can you be a good musician without practice? SVB takes practice, but NVB is achieved without practice. Nobody even knew that SVB requires practice. With practice I don’t mean rehearsal. With practice I mean that we have to engage in SVB to know what SVB is. There is nothing to be rehearsed about SVB. NVB, by contrast, is all about rehearsal. NVB, the way of talking in which listening to someone else is more important than listening to one self, is planned. NVB is a performance with a predetermined script. In SVB there is no script. However, we are not having a lot of NVB, because we hold on to our script. Our behavioral history simply is what it is and our scripted NVB has gotten much more reinforcement than our unscripted SVB. Conversation without a goal also needs reinforcement.