July 11, 2016

July 11, 2016 

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Behavioral Engineer

Dear Reader, 

This is my twenty-sixth response to “Epistemological Barriers to Radical Behaviorism” by Donohue et al. (1998). Skinner stated "We have not advanced more rapidly to the methods and instruments needed in the study of behavior precisely because of the diverting preoccupation with a supposed or real inner life" (Skinner, 1975, p.46).

This “preoccupation” is a function of our Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) in which there is no turn-taking or feedback. More precisely, we are diverted from Sound Verbal Behavior public speech by NVB private speech, which is conditioned by NVB public speech. There are problems in relationship and learning when there is a mismatch between public and private speech. This mismatch is caused and maintained by NVB.

I blame this “preoccupation with a supposed or real inner life” not on our private speech, on what we believe or think to ourselves, but on our public speech, on the way in which we talk with each other.  Certainly, we must “look to the environment for the origins of behavior,” but we must listen to ourselves while we speak and turn to the environment that is within our own skin to be able to discriminate SVB and NVB.  

Unlike textual verbal behavior, which can be seen, vocal verbal behavior cannot be seen and must be listened to, to be observed. “Language is simply a type of behavior (Skinner, 1957); it is subject to the same contingencies of reinforcement as all other behavior.” However, the difference between vocal verbal behavior and other behavior is that in the former we discriminate auditory stimuli with our ears, but in the later, we discriminate visual stimuli with our eyes. 

It is not uncommon for people to close their eyes to be better capable of listening and to not be distracted by what they see. Similarly, when we want to focus only on visual stimuli, as when we are reading a book, we can concentrate better if no auditory stimuli are distracting us. Thus, it is useful to have our eyes closed when we are learning SVB.