October 1, 2014

October 1, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

This writer had a wonderful conversation with John Ferreira about adjusting how we  talk to behaviorology, the natural science of environment-controlled behavior. To speak more meaningful, more often and more accurately about behaviorology, we must adopt words which describe the operant process involved in our verbal behavior. 

Environmental antecedent and postcedent events which stimulate, shape and maintain our verbal behavior, occur within and outside of our skin. Ferreira refers to these as endovironmental and ectovironmental stimuli. It makes total sense to treat what is inside and outside the skin as one environment. Furthermore, it is of great importance that we acknowledge that part of the environment to which we only individually have excess, the endovironment and that part to which everyone has access, the ectoenvironment. Endo as well as ecto-stimuli simultaneously and alternatively determine our ecto and endo verbal behavior, public speech and private speech.  There is ongoing interaction between the endo and the ecto environment.  

   

To observe our verbal behavior, we must stop talking about my behavior, your behavior and even, our behavior. All of these are inferences about entities which supposedly cause behavior. Fact is, however, we neither cause our own nor each other’s behavior. One may ask: what then is causing our behavior? The answer to this question is that behavior isn’t ours. By rephrasing the question we become more accurate about behavior: what is causing behavior? It is likely that we still wonder whose behavior we are talking about? Since we have been conditioned to think in terms of my behavior versus your behavior, our behavior is often out of the picture, let alone all behavior, which includes, of course, animal behavior. 

The natural science of human behavior is part of biology, because it acknowledges the continuation of behavior across species. Said differently, human beings are part of the natural world in which environments select behavioral consequences.When we feel fearful, agitated, threatened or humiliated, when we are negatively affected by ecto – or endo stimuli, we get again and again stuck on this idea that we cause our own behavior or that we must do something to change. Even when we try to stop others from having a negative effect on us, we keep missing the point that neither we nor others cause their own behavior.