February 16, 2015

February 16, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Behavioral Engineer

Dear Reader, 

Summed up, in NVB the speaker is *outward oriented, *verbally fixated and *struggling for the listener’s attention. In SVB, on the other hand, because the speaker listen’s to his or her own voice, while he or she speaks, he or she is conscious about how he or she impacts the listener.  SVB is conscious communication, but NVB is unconscious communication.

Conscious communication is made possible by the fact that speaking and listening happen simultaneously in the here and now and at the same rate and intensity level. Moreover, because of the speaker’s awareness of his or her instrument of sound, of his or her body, the listener experiences the congruence between what is said and how it is said. The alignment of verbal and nonverbal expressions of the speaker will effortlessly evoke understanding in the listener, because the listener is not (as is the case in NVB) listening to an aversive-sounding, attention-grabbing speaker. 

Another way of putting this is that in SVB there is coherence between the saying and doing of the speaker. In NVB there is a mismatch between the verbal and the nonverbal expressions of the speaker. This mismatch is  dominating and straining the attention of the listener. Consequently, NVB is always effortful, while SVB is effortless. In NVB the speaker exploits the listener, whose job is merely to applaud and admire the speaker. 

Although, there are differences between employer and employee, parent and child, teacher and student, in SVB, there is no hierarchical difference between the speaker and the listener, and, consequently, there can be turn-taking. In NVB, on the other hand, turn-taking is impossible and so the speaker remains a speaker and the listener remains confined to being a listener. Although the illusion is often created by NVB speakers that one day the listener will also be praised and recognized as a speaker, this is only done in order to maintain dominance. Listeners who grow up with mainly NVB become NVB speakers. We are NVB speakers because of how we grew up. Sadly, most of us had very little SVB. Although we may have received aspects of SVB while growing up, it was never given to us in a deliberate, knowledgeable, consistent and skillful manner. More familiarity with SVB will occur as we acknowledge that it is natural to have it. When we enjoy our relationships and feel safe and at easy, SVB will increase. 

        

The issue of the speaker-as-own-listener versus other-as-speaker-listener has not been properly understood. Since the former makes the latter possible, the speaker-as-own-listener is necessary to have relationship. Problems are created as we over value the other-as-speaker-listener, which excludes the speaker-as-own-listener. How can we expect to have good relationships, if NVB prevents us from being conscious of ourselves?


NVB is ubiquitous because there is more reinforcement for it. There is not enough reinforcement for SVB because we don’t know how to reinforce it. The dominance of NVB can be compared to a food-addiction. Although we know we shouldn’t eat so much, we become obese because we don’t realize of what our eating-behavior is a function. Likewise, we don't know of what our NVB is a function. Unless we know that we can't stop it. We haven't stopped it because we didn't know that. What we believed to cause our behavior didn't cause our behavior. The 'self", which presumably explains our behavior, didn't explain anything and has only perpetuated our NVB.

 

Different types of reinforcement are believed to be involved in SVB and NVB. Direct reinforcement and automatic reinforcement are strikingly different, in that in the former another person is always needed. During automatic reinforcement, however, the mediation of the consequences by another organism is not required, but during direct reinforcement, the consequence for behavior is reinforcement delivered by another organism. 


In Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB), the other person is always needed for reinforcement, but Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) can be automatically reinforcing and another person is not always required. In SVB, the speaker produces a reinforcing stimulus, a sound, which is reinforced by the presence of a reinforcing stimulus, that is, another sound, which is the continuation of and an attunement with the previous sound. 

As NVB is never automatically reinforcing, others are always needed to reinforce it. Therefore, one conspicuous aspect about NVB is that the speaker always attracts and demands the attention of the listener. Moreover, in NVB, the speaker holds, directs and diverts the listener’s attention. NVB refers to all the verbal episodes in which the speaker controls the behavior of the listener with and aversive contingency. 

Since most of our spoken communication is NVB, we experience talking usually as something that is energy-consuming. SVB is experienced as energizing, because it is simultaneously reinforced by others while it is automatically reinforcing for the speaker. Stated differently, in NVB speakers are not stimulated by their own voice, but by the attention which they are receiving from their listeners. Moreover, during NVB, speakers have no idea about how they sound or what the impact of their way of communicating is on the listener. 


During SVB, on the other hand, the speaker knows that he or she sounds good and feels good about the way in which he or she speaks. In SVB the speaker is conscious of what he or she says and how he or she says it, but in NVB, the speaker is unaware of how others feel, because he or she is only interested in getting the listener to do what he or she wants them to do. No matter how much others listen to and obey the NVB speaker, such a speaker is never satisfied with the attention that he or she is receiving, because he or she is not aware of how he or she sounds. Therefore, NVB speakers lack the experience of automatic reinforcement and will abuse listeners with their incessant demand for attention.  

February 15, 2015

February 15, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Behavioral Engineer

Dear Reader, 

This paper describes the notion of Sound and Noxious Verbal Behavior as two subsets of verbal behavior. Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) refers to the verbal episodes in which the speaker controls the behavior of the listener with positive reinforcement. On the contrary, Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) refers to all verbal episodes in which the speaker controls the behavior of the listener with an aversive contingency. During spoken communication, these subsets are caused and maintained by a different sound of our voice. SVB can simply be said to be caused by Voice I and NVB is caused by Voice II. SVB and NVB are called that way because we can learn to recognize these subsets by how we sound.  

From one moment to the next speakers produce SVB or NVB. Although speakers express SVB or NVB, there are conversations in which one or the other continues for a period of time. Thus, in some conversations there is hardly any SVB, while in others there is a lot. Absence or presence of SVB signifies presence or absence of NVB. These mutually exclusive patterns of verbal behavior determine different outcomes for the listener. During episodes in which the SVB speaker controls the behavior of the listener with positive reinforcement, the listener is stimulated to become a SVB speaker as well. In SVB the speaker and the listener are always mutually reinforcing each other. In NVB, by contrast, the benefits only accrue to the speaker, who, because of his or her hierarchical status, is allowed to and even expected to dominate, exploit and oppress the listener. In NVB, the listener has to and is often made to listen to the speaker. Moreover, in NVB the listener must listen to the speaker, that is, to the speaker who is not the listener, but when this listener speaks, this will prevent him or her from being a speaker-as-own-listener. 

During SVB the speaker is also his or her own listener. The sound of a SVB speaker’s voice is automatically reinforcing to the extent that it was also reinforced by others. Stated in a different way, in SVB the speaker (like a musician, who listens to and enjoys the sound of his or her own instrument) is able to continue to listen to his or her sound while he or she speaks. Thus, during SVB the listener who is different from the speaker listens to the speaker, who listens to his or her own voice while he or she speaks and who is therefore effortlessly understood.  

During NVB the speaker is not listening to his or her own sound while he or she speaks. To the contrary, the NVB speaker wants and coerces others to listen to him or to her. Stated differently, the other-as-speaker-listener is considered to be more important than the speaker-as-own-listener in NVB. The latter has nothing to do with a self as a behavior-causing inner agent. The speaker-as-own-listener occurs when the speaker and the listener are one and the same person. The other-as-speaker-listener occurs when the speaker and the listener are different persons.

When the other-as-speaker-listener excludes the speaker-as-own-listener, our spoken communication becomes a struggle for attention. Thus, NVB is characterized by the *outward orientation of both the speaker as well as the listener, which is caused by the exclusion of the speaker-as-own-listener by the speaker. In SVB, by contrast, the speaker-as-own-listener includes the other-as-speaker-listener and makes other-as-speaker-listening possible and effective. Consequently, in SVB, the *struggle for attention, which is characteristic for NVB, is totally absent. 


A third property of the NVB speaker is his or her *verbal fixation on what is being said. His or her lack of attention for how he or she speaks, that is, the inability to listen while he or she speaks, always co-occurs with *outward orientation and *struggle for attention.  These three habits (*outward orientation, *struggle for attention and *verbal fixation) change the sound of our voice and cause us to have NVB. It is only in the absence of these three interrelated habits that we will attain SVB.

February 14, 2015

February 14, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Behavioral Engineer

Dear Reader, 

 

It is a mistake to construe mental health problems which many people are struggling with as problems which lie in what people tell themselves about their lives and the world in which they live. There are no selves and people therefore don’t and can’t talk to themselves. Even though people believe they do so covertly or overtly, they only always talk with other people. Any therapeutic process that focuses on how people talk with themselves is based on the fiction of an outdated inner behavior-causing agent. 

The only process that needs to be considered is how people talk with each other. When our overt conversation with others is deeply problematic and is not leading to any positive relationships, there are bound to be covert consequences. Simply stated, Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) private speech is a function of NVB public speech. Nothing can or should be done with NVB private speech, because others don’t and can’t have access to it. The only thing we can do something about is our public speech, because it is observable, audible behavior. 

Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) public speech always results in SVB private speech, although the distinction between SVB public speech and SVB private never even arises. The distinction between private and public speech only matters in NVB, because in NVB they are dissimilar. Thus, our only problem behavior is NVB public speech, which can only be replaced by SVB public speech. NVB private speech is never and has never been the problem, but mistaking that as our problem, we ignore NVB public speech and we keep missing out on SVB public speech. 

Whether we know it or not, most of us are, day in day out, struggling with NVB. We think we are troubled by our own dysfunctional verbalizations, which must be changed. We do all sorts of crazy things to change the way we talk with ourselves, we presumably restructure our cognitions, increase our self-esteem or become more persistent, because we seem to be telling ourselves we can be what we want to be.  Since we believe we can change our belief about ourselves by ourselves, this is how we view others. We readily believe others are deluded by what they think, by what they believe and by whatever nonsense they say to themselves. However, in both cases we are wrong: we neither can change the way in which we talk with ourselves nor can we change how others talk to themselves. 

The fiction that people talk with themselves is maintained by NVB. In NVB people imagine that they have private speech and they are paranoid that others might have it too. In SVB, there is no difference between how we talk with our selves or with each other, so the distinction doesn’t arise. Actually, in SVB we only talk with others, but not with ourselves. There is simply nothing to talk about because by ourselves we are just quiet and peaceful. Communication makes no sense by ourselves. 

When people talk out loud, overtly instead of covertly with their so-called self, they find that speaker and listener are one and the same person. In SVB the distinction between speaking and listening is as irrelevant as the distinction between one’s right and one's left hand. Although two hands behave differently they are part of one and the same body. Thus, also while talking out loud alone, it is only public speech that matters. Similarly to talking with others, when one has NVB while talking alone, there occurs a separation between the speaker and the listener, which creates and maintains the illusion that there can be such a thing as talking with one self. When one listens to oneself while one speaks, one attains SVB and the public speech versus private speech difference is understood as being always related to NVB. Listening makes speaking possible only in SVB.

   

When a therapist interacts with a client this conversation is in not any different from any other conversation: the public speech of the therapist influences the public speech of the client and, the public speech of the client influences the public speech of the therapist. Ideally, of course, the SVB of the therapist extinguishes and replaces the NVB of the client with SVB, but given the general ignorance about this important distinction, most likely the NVB of the therapists is a little less than the NVB of the client, which then temporarily increases the SVB of the client.

  

For SVB to be maintained after the therapy sessions there needs to be SVB with other people than the therapist. Unless the client can have SVB with others, he or she will not be able to maintain it. Even if the client was someone who talked out loud a lot, the automatically reinforcing effects of SVB would only occur if the therapist had focused on the public speech of the client. Moreover, the client’s ability to talk out loud by him or herself would only maintain SVB, if the client had been conditioned to tune into the nonverbal aspects of what he or she is saying. 

As in any other conversation, the client-therapist interaction is primarily a process of discrimination and reinforcement. Although the therapist may reduce the client’s NVB and evoke and reinforce some SVB, the client has to have SVB with others to be able to continue with it. Without additional reinforcement from others, SVB is not enough reinforced and will be extinguished. Since most therapists don’t even know about the SVB/NVB distinction, interventions at best only lead to temporary small increases of SVB and temporarily small decreases of NVB. It is unlikely that these limited effects continue after the therapy is over. The reason is for this is that therapists don’t focus on altering public speech. Specifically the extent to which the nonverbal aspects of our public speech are properly addressed during therapy determines the outcome of the treatment.

February 13, 2015

February 13, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Behavioral Engineer

Dear Reader, 

 

This writer realizes, because of this writings, that his discovery of Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) permanently changed him. Without writing about it, he wouldn’t have been able to acknowledge this fact. Initially, his discovery made him speak more, because SVB changed the way he spoke and the way he wanted to speak. Now that he has explored all that and experimented with that, he is no longer so eager to speak about it. Writing about it now has a self-reinforcing effect.  

It is strange to recognize this is happening. This writer has been against writing for so long, but now writing seems more advanced than speaking. While reading what he is writing, which is like listening while speaking, he finds that his attention is drawn more and more to reading than writing and this is beginning to affect his writing. It is almost like playing a melody, which sounds beautiful and effortless. 

By writing this writer becomes silent and meditative. While waiting for words to appear, he experiences calmness, carefulness and satisfaction. His ability to write about this relieves him from all he hasn’t achieved and couldn’t achieve. By writing about this he is able to let himself know that it is okay. He hasn’t done a very good job at that. He has not been very good at soothing himself, but because of his writing he is getting better at it. 

This writing brings acceptance of his life as he is living it, as only he can live it. At this moment it is early in the morning 4:00AM and Kayla the cat was making noise in the hall by knocking around a pencil over the wooden floor. When he opens the door, she comes in and takes place on his lap and looks at him with her head tilted in a sweet and adorably way.  

At a moment like this, this writer is not bothered about behaviorism or with what he is trying to accomplish. This coming to his senses is new in that he has not written about it, nor has he given himself a chance to enjoy it. Currently he is having the flu and that slowed him down enough to make this simplicity possible. The cat is licking herself. 

No complicated thoughts or trying to think about things, just sitting, writing and letting the process take over. Looking at the cat cleaning herself reminds him that he also needs to take care of himself. This writing is a form of self-care. It is self-explanatory and it allows for things to come together. It is needed and appreciated by the reader. 

This writer just realized that he is more inclined to write from his writer’s perspective than from his reader’s perspective. By recognizing this, he is allowing himself to become more of a reader. He often noticed, while reading, that he is too much in a hurry to read what he reads and to be able to understand it. He reads quite slowly and is easily distracted. He understands what he reads only when he takes time and slows down. 

When he paces himself, he can understand what he reads, but when he goes too fast, his comprehension diminishes. He gets easily bored with what he reads and most of what he reads he finds uninteresting. Only sometimes he finds something that is worthwhile reading and it seems to him as if too much must be read just to get to it. He would rather get to it right away. This is also true for spoken communication. 

In this writing, he can get to it right away and in SVB he can get to it right away too. He can always get to it right away, but others, most of the time, can’t and don’t know how to. He knows what is important to him, but others don’t know what is important to them. They may think they do, but their knowledge of themselves is often quite superficial. This writer knows about SVB, about what is important to all of us. Consequently, this writer continues to discover new things.

This writing is dedicated to the reader. The reader has no trouble reading this. The reader takes a break from the writer, just as the listener takes a break from the speaker. This reader is just beginning to discover that reading, like listening, always continues. Now it is clear that the writer was dominating the reader, as the speaker was dominating the listener. 

The reader changes as the writer changes, but the reader also changes regardless of the writer. The change in the reader without the writer is a change we haven’t read about. This reader is recognized for the very first time and has been waiting for this moment. This reader is coming alive and is ready to read about other readers. 

When this reader reads about this reader, it seems as if this reader is less important than this writer. It almost seems like breaking through an ancient taboo that this reader claims its presence. Once this reader begins to assert himself, he realizes how little he knows about himself. 

One thing is clear: the reader is here and is not having any fear. The reader is happy. The reader is free. The reader is me. At long last, the reader is praised and honored. The reader has never gotten the attention like this and is full of positive energy. This reader is reading in a different way that he was reading before. This reading is ecstasy. This reader wants to read and likes to read. This reader has an epiphany.

This reader didn’t know that he could be so happy by himself, with his own writing. This reader smiles for no other reason than to read. Something so precious became available because he reads. The reader is so responsive and is getting so much out of these precious words. The reader can finally be alone and undisturbed. The reader’s reading took him home. The reader wasn’t lost in the words, but he was found back in the words.