October 25, 2016

October 25, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

A couple of days went by. The cable of my laptop computer had to be replaced. I fell behind on my notes and writings. It is nice to catch up. Although it was stressful to be without my laptop, it was also a good experience. I was thinking a lot without writing about what I was thinking. Now I am thinking again and writing about what I am thinking.

There is something specific I want think and write about today. I read some papers which emphasized that we don’t cause our own behavior. This topic is of utmost importance. Most of us still believe we decide to act this or that way, but behavior is determined by our environment.

When I talk about the environment and how it affects verbal behavior, I mean speakers and listeners. Other speakers and listeners determine if we will engage in Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) or in Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). As speakers, we can’t by ourselves make SVB or NVB happen. For SVB to happen, the listener and speaker must take turns.

If the speaker and the listener can’t take turns, they will be engaging in NVB. In SVB the speaker invites the listener to become a speaker, but in NVB the speaker prevents the listener from becoming a speaker. The speaker always sets the stage for SVB or NVB, not the listener.

The listener mediates the speaker only if he or she is speaks the same language. Only to the extent that the listener knows SVB can he or she reinforce a SVB speaker. Due to their history of reinforcement most speakers and listeners know more about NVB than about SVB.