July 23, 2016

July 23, 2016 

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Behavioral Engineer

Dear Reader,

This is my thirty-eight response to “Epistemological Barriers to Radical Behaviorism” by Donohue et al. (1998). Someone who is conditioned by Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is likely to take offense with “Radical behaviorists” who “contend that all behavior is determined.” NVB rules because people believe and talk others into believing free will. Free will is like a religion which is passed from one generation to the next. With it comes the tragedy mankind hasn’t solved. Our tragedy is not our belief in free will, but our inability to communicate who we really are.

Those familiar with Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) experience and know that authentic communication can only occur among equals and that it always takes two to tango. Spoken communication is a social, reciprocal phenomenon, but in NVB we are no longer in contact with natural contingencies due to imaginary hierarchical differences. Once we engage in SVB, we realize what nonsense is purported by our NVB.

SVB goes way beyond “helping students overcome barriers to radical behaviorism.” It is not a “strategy” to better deal with things, but an entirely new way of communicating. Radical behaviorists can only “acknowledge how their position deviates from what is commonly taken to be true” if they can model this novel way of talking. Since this has never been their focus most “epistemological barriers” have remained. 

People will accept radical behaviorism as they don’t feel threatened by the fact that it differs from their “prior beliefs”. SVB is not some pedagogical tool, which will only be used by some “good teachers”. SVB can teach radical behaviorism and other sciences to us as it relieves us from our superstitions and struggles. Most importantly, SVB restores in each communicator the ability to be and to express him or herself.