November 3, 2016

November 3, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

This is my ninth response to “The Power of the Word May Reside in the Power of Affect” (2007) by Jaak Panksepp. This great neuroscientist is unknowingly promoting Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). “Our urge to speak may be more profoundly linked to social-emotional motivation than our need to promote logical ideas.” Right on! You go Panksepp! And, he states “for most people, speaking remains more of a social emotional act than a propositional-logical one.” A neuroscientist said that!

Although we are not very skilled in arranging environments in which we can engage in ongoing SVB, our brains still want it. Only in safe circumstances do we seem to be functioning properly. Our neurobiology craves SVB, but our environments are so demanding that we can’t help engaging again and again in Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB).

The conundrum of not being able to create a safe environment and again and again engaging in NVB can only be solved if we pay attention to what happens within our own skin. Only when we listen to ourselves while we speak, the speaker will be perceived as his or her own listener.

By synchronizing our own speaking and listening behavior we are no longer dependent on others to produce SVB. In an ideal situation SVB would be supported by our environment, that is, by other speakers who also listen to themselves while they speak, but, as this can only be achieved after we have been introduced to the SVB/NVB distinction while we are speaking, we only have these written words to help us listen to ourselves while we speak. Writings can only help us so much….

Panksepp states “Cognition will never be free from affect; raw emotional feelings arising from ancient neural substrates that are essentially pre-propositional – cognitively objectless. These emotional substrates promote cognitive object-relations optimally through rich emotional experiences.” I think he is referring to SVB and not to NVB. NVB doesn’t promote “cognitive object-relations optimally through rich emotional experiences.” NVB impoverishes our emotional experiences.