November 13, 2014

November 13, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

A couple of times a veteran in one of this writer’s classes has talked about his experiences. Each time he seemed compelled to elaborate about the terrible events he has witnessed and has been actively involved in. When given the opportunity to speak, he demonstrated an eagerness to release some of his many horror stories. From this fact alone it can be deduced that, whether he knows it or not, he feels the need to talk about it. This author considers this actually a healthy sign and he will continue to give him or anyone else the opportunity to express themselves. 

The Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) climate of acceptance this author creates in his class, which over time has become more and more enhanced and maintained by the contributions from the students, also occasionally brings out examples of Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). Although responses such as those given by the veteran can be intense and intimidating, they hardly attract any response from the students. This writer, as the instructor, is the only one to verbally respond. Although he always validates the expressions of NVB of the veteran, he doesn’t feed into them or reinforces them and therefore basically extinguishes them, while replacing them with instances of SVB.

Reduction of behavior resulting in extinction consists of two different processes: respondent and operant extinction (Ledoux, 2013). Extinction of the respondent conditioned stimulus, which is no longer capable of eliciting the conditioned response, is different from the cessation of NVB when nothing reinforces it.  

The veteran related that on Veteran’s Day people were talking about the meaninglessness of war. He had felt insulted and gotten into a fight with someone who thought different than him. Things were said which had triggered classically conditioned reflexive behavior. Since he is not reinforced in this class for his NVB, a slow form of operant extinction is taking place. However, his war stories are intermittently reinforced by his fellow veterans and the celebration of Veteran’s Day. Interestingly, the person he had felt so offended by was himself veteran. Someone who used to reinforce him, no longer reinforced him, but now rejected him. In other words, the change of mind of the other veteran was considered so threatening that he felt like killing him. It goes without saying that unless our veteran student’s violent behavior is also respondently extinguished, little ground can be gained with operant extinction. Unless the necessary respondent extinction schedules are implemented first to decrease a veteran’s PTSD, operant extinction is impossible. It is great to see him become more social and at ease and to notice that his positive behaviors are reinforced by the other students.