June 4, 2014

June 4, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

One of the most astounding aspects about Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) is that pretty much everyone can achieve it without effort, everyone can do it, and everyone already knows it, but is unable to have it deliberately. The reason for this is that generally listening behavior is less developed than speaking behavior. Most of what we say is not listened to by ourselves. It is because we are conditioned by a communication in which we listen to others and make others listen to us that we are not as likely to listen to ourselves. 

Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is a communication in which speakers are not listening to themselves. In NVB, one human being is speaking and the other is listening. In NVB, due to social rules, the one who is listening is not speaking and, consequently, is not having the opportunity to listen to him or herself. In NVB, the speaker doesn’t need to listen to him or to herself, because others are already listening to him or to her. In NVB, the attention of the speaker and the listener is on the other and is conditioning both to be outward-oriented.  

Because the sound of the voice which is not listened to is different from the sound of the voice that is listened to, there is a difference between SVB and NVB. Simply stated, when we don’t listen to ourselves while we speak we sound terrible. There is unanimous agreement among those who listen to themselves while they speak that those who don’t listen to themselves while they speak sound threatening. The fact that SVB is familiar to all of us, is plain and simple, but SVB continuously eludes us, because it is explained by the lob-sided development of our speaking and listening behaviors.  Even those who don’t do much of the talking overtly are covertly experiencing the continuation of the conversation in which they listen to others, but not to themselves. The person who attempts to listen to him or herself while talking covertly is at a disadvantage of the one who can talk overtly.

   

The question which needs to be asked is: who is most likely to listen? Obviously the person who is most likely to listen, is the person who is most capable of it. The person who does most of the talking overtly, who demands the attention of others by dominating the conversation, in NVB, is the least likely to listen to him or herself or to others while he or she speaks. He or she does what he or she does, because in his or her behavioral history speaking was more often reinforced than listening. The person who is most capable of listening, however, is the person who is feeling most oppressed by NVB and who is consequently most troubled by it. 

The person who most easily differentiates between SVB and NVB, is the person who, on the one hand, has experienced the reinforcing effects of self-listening, but who, on the other hand, like this author, is often dissatisfied with the results of his or her interactions with others. Such a person will, on the one hand, attempt to gain more control of the conversation, and, subsequently, engage more often in NVB, while, on the other hand, based on the positive consequences achieved by his or her self-listening, engage more often in a conversation with him or herself, due to which he or she will withdraw from NVB as much as possible and is able to achieve SVB more often. Since without the distinction between SVB and NVB the importance of self-listening cannot become clear, it is important to realize that those who are most likely to listen, are those who are most likely to speak. 

Paradoxically, the troublemakers, those who don’t agree with the communicators who dominate the conversation, those who themselves repeatedly stimulate NVB, but who, due to already available positive results of SVB, slowly but surely, withdraw from NVB as best as they can, are the ones who have the most history in listening and who can revolutionize the way in which we communicate. Those who dare to be inconsistent, because they recognize the different order that is created by SVB and NVB, those who know that SVB can’t be forced and understand that NVB can’t be stopped, but must be avoided, because it is forced on them, they are most likely to listen to themselves and develop over time the components of SVB.

Those who remain quiet, who, for whatever reason, don’t talk, have the least opportunity to listen to themselves because they don't speak. Just because they are quiet doesn’t mean that they are listening. Similarly, just because a person speaks, doesn’t mean that he or she communicates. The bi-directional relationship between speaking and listening exists within each of us and extends to others. As long as our speaking and listening behaviors are not synchronized, we are unable to evoke this in others. Those who listen more than speak usually talk more covertly, but when they do so in response to NVB, their covert speech has a negative quality. 

Much more harm is done by those who supposedly listen than by those who supposedly speak. Those who supposedly listen do so at the detriment of their own their ability to speak. And, those who claim to listen, are often not listening because they don’t speak. Since generally listening is less developed than speaking, the need for listening is exploited by those who can make others believe that they are listening. Most of those who are supposedly listening are not at all listening, but they are definitely making others believe that they are listening. They know how to dominate the conversation and they make others listen to them. Even while they tell others to listen to themselves, they are basically instructing them to listen to them. Those who pretend to listen are predetermined. They can’t be spontaneous and they don’t allow others to be spontaneous either. Those who supposedly listen prevent the SVB conversation in which our covert speech becomes part again of public speech. Those who supposedly listen are presumed to have abilities that others don’t have, such as consciousness, holiness or empathy, but their minimal speech, doesn't signify that they have a more developed listening. 

The absence of speech always signifies that people have limited listening abilities. Also, those who supposedly listen are often paranoid or socially inapt. Their NVB covert speech goes in overdrive, because nobody has listened to them. Those who claim to be listening to others, are often not listening, because they let others do all the talking. However, those who are really listening are not likely to talk about the fact that they are listening, because they are really talking with others. When people are really talking with each other listening is no longer an issue.        

June 3, 2014

June 3, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

The big Ash tree that was in the author’s back yard is gone and the whole lawn is mulched, because all the roots were grinded down with a machine. It has been a noisy and messy couple of days, but finally the job is done. This way there is more sun in the garden, which is needed for our vegetable patch. Also, other things are possible now that a whole lot of the space has opened up. And, we are left with the firewood, which is pilled-up against our fence. 

This change was accompanied by the two-weeks-notice this author gave to his two jobs. His new job starts in three weeks and he will be making more money. This author welcomes the change because he was feeling bad about his low-paying jobs which were without benefits. This new job is what he and his wife have been striving for since they came back to Chico end of 2012. Better and stable employment is essential since life is very expensive and they own their house and two cars. 

It will take a while to transition from the two old jobs and get used to the new job. The transition has already started and this author notices he is no longer thinking as much about it as he was before. A long time went by before he knew for certain that he had been hired and and the waiting was a draining affair. The author is glad that that is over and he is ready to make a fresh start. His wife hopes he will keep this job until he retires. There are possibilities to grow into this job and this author is intent to keep developing while moving on to better things. 

The air is cool and it is in the middle of the night. In a little while the author will go back to bed, but he wants to write about the peaceful feeling he has due to the current situation. The clock struck one and the wind is rustling in the leaves of trees that are nearby. Something is settling and this author senses a quieting down of his thoughts. Since he is not trying to make this happen, this is happening by itself and there is a new quality to this process.

  

Thinking about this new phase this author has no idea about what he wants to write. He just waits for the words to announce themselves. Some words come, but they aren’t meaningful enough to make it into his writing. It appears as if the author’s thoughts are shaped by his writing. His writing is a way of talking with himself, but in another way than when this is done vocally. He thinks about the relationship between his writing and reading quietly. Occasionally, he still enjoys reading things out loud and when he has written something, he likes to read it out loud to hear how it sounds. It is reassuring to hear what he has written. 

Suddenly, a wave of sadness overcomes him and tears come to his eyes. Why is he so sad about this? He just hit a chord which moves his whole being. It has to do with beauty, but also with emotional pain. Tears are flowing quietly. His body responds to these words which express what he is really feeling. He thinks about how soothing it is to be able to check in with himself like this. Some tears have made their way down his cheeks and are now falling on his chest. Already the feeling of sadness has subsided and the tears have stopped and are drying up. 

Throughout his life this author has on occasion felt like crying. Tonight he also feels he cries, because he has been drinking a couple of beers. When he is a little tipsy he cries easily, but also without drinking he has no problem with it. To him crying has always been a meaningful, relaxing experience, but to many others the expression of tears are seen as if there is something wrong, which had to be stopped. He has always felt so comforted with his crying that he never felt any need to stop it. To the contrary, he has often taken the time to cry and to let it out.

It amazes him how incapable people are of feeling their own emotions. He doesn’t think that when someone cries that such a person is depressed. The depressed person usually doesn’t cry, but if they could, they would probably feel a lot better. This author always feels better after he has cried. He has never felt bad after he had cried. It was simply a natural response of his body, which took over.

June 2, 2014

June 2, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

Because this writing is meant to be read by others than only this writer, it is important to mention that a new letter type was chosen for the month of June. The current letter type is called “forte.” It appeals to this writer for musical reasons. This writer has always loved compositions in which the music reaches some kind of beautiful climax. Music has always played a powerful role in this author’s life and it is due to his father’s love for music that he has such a great appreciation for it. There was a time when this author was addicted to the expression of strong emotions in opera music, but these days this need seems to have been fulfilled. Currently, his preference is more for calm and peaceful music. 

It is nice to use this letter type to write about how the stormy emotions from the past have finally subsided. It was always this enormous contrast which made the calm sounds sound so beautiful and it is this writer’s goal to make this available to the reader. Without this contrast we are completely lost. We need a similar contrast to be able to learn more about Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). To know about SVB is to know about Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). We can only confidently go into SVB after we have thoroughly explored NVB. Since we haven’t done that, we are unable to go into SVB, even if we would like to. Most likely, our wish to go into SVB is based on our refusal to acknowledge the reality of NVB. 

It is astounding how in spite of years of successfully teaching of SVB this author still has problems attracting people to his seminars. He didn’t see an increase in popularity, but the lack of participants has never stopped him from organizing another seminar. It can be said, however, that the general response to SVB and NVB is remarkably stable. In as much as participants always feel deeply moved, inspired and enthusiastic about SVB, they just as readily forget about it and think they know it when in fact they don’t. SVB cuts through all the red tape.

There is something harsh about SVB which makes this author think again about his father. Whenever this author did something wrong as a child, his father became angry. His father, who would physically punish him for misbehaving, would insist on hearing the truth, which would always came out, usually accompanied by a flood of tears. This author knows that it is painful to differentiate between SVB and NVB, to avoid the pain that is involved in recognizing that we were often punished instead of reinforced and that the punishment we received had many problematic consequences. People would rather believe in something good. 

Our belief in something good is the biggest stand in the way for learning about SVB. Since SVB is not about our beliefs, but about our real experiences, people are easily turned off by it. There is a lot of environmental support for our beliefs, but there is very little support for our experiences, especially the  experiences which we have while we communicate. Only in SVB can we and do we recognize that our wish to understand things prevents us from experiencing it. Our understanding of SVB is based on this experience and can never be without it. The moment we think we have understood it, SVB becomes a belief, which disconnects us from our experience. We  don’t need to understand SVB, we need to experience it! Our need for understanding signifies our lack of experience. Those who claim to understand do so because of their lack of experience. There is nothing to claim when one experiences SVB. Whatever one experiences can be expressed in one's own words, pace and rhythm.  

SVB allows us to stay close to our own experience, because we speak in such a way that the speaker and the listener feel comfortable. This means that we allow our private speech to be expressed in our public speech as best as we can. This inclusion of our private speech into our public speech is not based on what we have to say to ourselves content-wise, but rather on whether we listen to ourselves. Although we may already have been expressing our feelings, we have not yet listened to them. Although we may think that we were already listening to our emotions, we haven’t really expressed hem, while we were listening to them. 

June 1, 2014

June 1, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

This writing was written on June 2. Nothing was written on June 1, which was this author’s father’s birthday. He didn’t call or contact him and he felt good about it. By writing about yesterday, he creates the distance that he needs to be able to write in ways which he may not have done before. He doesn’t hate his father, but he is aware that his father has played and to some extent continues to play a complicated role in his life. He was thinking about him while he was jogging. 

This author was talking out loud with himself yesterday while he was jogging and letting himself know that it is okay the way it is. He didn’t talk so much about his father per se, but rather, about the fact that some years ago he decided to keep his father, as well as the rest of his family, out of his life. This decision has had such a positive influence on his life that he doesn’t want to jeopardize it. There is no way in which he can even think of going back to how things were in the past.

This author likes his life much better without any of his family members in it. His wife, who knows him sometimes better than he knows himself, thinks so too. She often suggested to him to stay away from his family, but he wasn’t listening to her and couldn’t resist the temptation of getting back in touch with them. Yesterday, as the author was jogging near a beautiful creek, thoughts about his family flooded his mind, because he knew they would have gathered to celebrate his father’s birthday. He didn’t even know anymore how old his father was. 

This is an important part of the conversation he had with himself. He reassured himself that he made the right decision and that everything that is currently happening in his life is the proof of that. Also, he explained the reason for this decision: he discovered Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB), the vocal communication in which one listens to one’s self while one speaks. He has taught this way of talking for many years now, because it has been such an inspiration to him. 

Yesterday, as he was explaining to himself how SVB has guided him to where he is today, this author addressed the fact that SVB is indeed a very special kind of behavior, which continues to have such reinforcing consequences. If it wasn’t for the fact that this is the case, he wouldn’t have been able to decide what he decided and would have gone insane with sadness and despair. This author, who worked the last ten years with clients who suffer from schizophrenia and all other sorts of mood and anxiety disorders, knows first-hand about the devastating consequences of the lack of reinforcement for appropriate behaviors. 

This author has learned, all by himself, something which nobody could teach him. In effect, he has discovered something which wasn’t there before. Unlike those who suffer from mental health afflictions, his ability to listen to what he has to say allowed him to continue to merge his speaking with his listening, an activity, he found, which seldom occurs, even in supposedly "well-functioning" people.  

Although it may be argued that there is nothing new about a person’s ability to listen while he or she speaks and that we all do this when we name things, what this author gives names to are processes which have not yet been named by anyone. It is one thing, for a child, to be able to say “house” in the presence of a house and to point to a picture of a house when someone is asking “what is this?’” It is quite another thing, for an adult, to have ongoing conversation in which all the speakers continuously listen to themselves and thus to each other while they speak.  

Since this behavior hasn’t been learned, the author’s family members, as well as many other people from his past, had to be left behind. They are left behind, like those who didn’t learn how to read and write. They miss out on reinforcement possibilities this author is now familiar with. They suffer from the lack of reinforcement. There is nothing stimulating about those who stagnated in their development. This author is happy with what he has found and is not blaming anyone for how things are. He understands why things are the way they are. Those who are not open to his work, they are the ones who miss out.

May 31, 2014

May 31, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

Speaking and listening as well as writing and reading are not learned simultaneously, but separately. As a consequence of the separate development of our repertoires of speaking and listening and writing and reading, many variations of verbal behavior exist. These variations are determined by the extent to which our speaking and listening and writing and reading are joined. 

This author found that when repertoires of speaking and listening and writing and reading are not properly integrated, this causes a different kind of verbal behavior than when they are synchronized. When either one is more developed than the other, a clear mismatch can be seen and heard in how we speak or write. Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is characterized by the extent to which speaking and listening and writing and reading have developed not only separately, but also unevenly. It is must be called NVB, because this mismatch can be understood as the root of all our problems of relationship. 

Only to the extent that speaking and listening and writing and reading are connected can speakers and listeners and writers and readers experience and maintain Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). However, those who have developed similar repertoires aren’t necessarily capable of having SVB. What this fusion of speaking and listening and writing and reading really refers to is that we are talking about the same things. We have SVB if we do, but NVB if this is not the case. In the former, we use the same names to identify what we are talking about, but in the latter, we may use the same name, but we give it a different meaning. Since speakers often behave simultaneously as listeners and visa versa, and since writers also often behave simultaneously as readers and visa versa, it is important to have an account which emphasizes how these behaviors interlock. In Verbal Behavior (1957) Skinner refers to SVB when he talked about this process as the speaker-as-own-listener.