September 25, 2016

September 25, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

As most of us are more familiar with Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) than with Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB), we think we can say whatever we want to as our freedom of speech is guaranteed by the constitution. However, speech, as any other behavior, is lawful and determined. 

There is a difference between man-made laws and scientific laws. The speaker who engages in SVB produces a pleasant sound to the listener, but the speaker who engages in NVB produces an aversive sound which, in one way or another, will make the listener want to move away. 

These processes occur regardless of whether we take note of them or not. If we can control the conditions in which the speaker produces SVB, we can predict what will happen in the future. How we talk and what we say is the result of specifiable conditions; aversive conditions set the stage for NVB and appetitive conditions set the stage for SVB. 

Those who know and those who don’t know are both affected by these conditions. Our exploration of the SVB/NVB distinction helps us come to terms with the fact that there is no inner self which determines our behavior. Fear of losing our identity as a free agent dissolves in SVB.

In SVB we recognize that we are influencing each other and that we are influenced by each other. Indeed, we are each other’s environment. Once we know the difference between SVB and NVB, we know how often we are coerced by each other to behave in any particular way. In SVB there is no forcefulness; in SVB we mutually reinforce each other.