May 21, 2016

May 21, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) is destined to become something very big. It is going to change the world as it is a natural phenomenon which is possible for every human being. It has taken me many years to be able to write like this and to talk with you in this writing. Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is bound to be a thing of the past and SVB is going to make history. There is no other way for us to survive and to thrive than to learn about the SVB/NVB distinction. Once you know about this distinction, you are on the path which increases SVB and decreases NVB and you will know you are missing out on something of great importance if you leave this path. As one of my students stated, we are either going increase SVB and decrease NVB or we are going increase NVB and decrease SVB. Moreover, we will only be able to do the former knowingly, consciously, and the latter, unknowingly, unconsciously. The future is to SVB and NVB is going to be replaced by something better. We were having NVB as we didn’t know about SVB, but once we know about SVB, nothing stops us from having it. NVB cannot stop us from having SVB as NVB happens at a different time and at a different place than SVB. As SVB begins to develop, we will notice that our NVB becomes more and more a thing of the past. SVB is our future, but with NVB we have no future and we will remain stuck to our past. While our SVB accelerates, we mourn the loss and havoc that has been wreaked by our NVB. Each step that increases our SVB momentum will be of greater relief than the former. We will never get tired of exploring the infinite possibilities of SVB, which will be revealed to us as we are guided by our positive emotions. Work will be our joy and we are grateful for having been given the opportunity to do the work that is involved in making others aware of what we have learned. The success that will be achieved by others who increase their SVB will be our success, but the struggle of those still involved in NVB is no longer perceived as our struggle. Such is the great benediction of SVB: we know for sure we no longer participate in NVB.

May 20, 2016

May 20, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

It may not be apparent to you, but the reason we don’t have a more scientific way of communicating is because we have not more consistently looked into the two response classes of our vocal verbal behavior: Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). We have occasionally wondered   about why human beings everywhere keep having so many communication problems, but we have become involved in all sorts of negatively reinforced activities that have become the distraction from and the cover up of our many unresolved relationship problems. For those who are not familiar with the term negative reinforcement, it should be stated this term has led to much confusion. Negative reinforcement occurs when something already present is removed as a result of our behavior, thus creating a favorable outcome. For example, a student procrastinates by watching TV instead of doing his homework. TV watching or procrastination behavior is said to be negatively reinforced, increased in response rate. By watching TV, the student is temporarily relieved from doing his homework. Stated differently, because TV watching removes something unpleasant (doing homework) it is negatively reinforced, that is, it is more likely to occur in the future. Another way of thinking of about negative reinforcement is by thinking of it in terms of subtraction. For instance, the use anti-biotics is negatively reinforced when such medication takes away or subtracts the infection. As we don’t know about the SVB/NVB distinction, we don’t realize how much NVB is in fact our failed attempt to get away from NVB. Many misunderstandings can be solved with the SVB/NVB distinction. For instance, it is often said that people who are harsh and rude fear being open and vulnerable, but this is not true. In terms of the SVB/NVB distinction, those with NVB don’t fear those with SVB at all. However, the opposite is true: those with SVB fear those with NVB. Their fear of NVB makes it possible for them to have SVB. In SVB there is no fear as it involves the absence of aversive stimulation.

May 19, 2016

May 19, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

I want to say more about the change which will occur in how we talk when we truly know that our behavior is not caused by some inner agent. This scientific knowledge makes us produce Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB). Those who haven’t acquired this knowledge inevitably produce Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). When behaviorists produce NVB this indicates they haven’t understood this essential fact about behavior.  As the SVB/NVB distinction hasn’t yet been addressed many behaviorists continue to produce NVB. The fact that they know it better than others how behavior works hasn’t led to acceptance, but to rejection. The change in how we talk, which occurs once we acknowledge that we are each other’s environment, has not yet occurred. This is the change from NVB to SVB. We keep having NVB as we don’t fully recognize the extent to which we negatively influence each other. If have the conversation in which we explore this bi-directional influence, we find we go back and forth between SVB and NVB all the time. Thus, our environment changes continuously and rapidly. SVB cannot endure if the contingency that makes it possible keeps changing. When we have the conversation in which we explore the contingency which makes SVB possible and the contingency which makes NVB possible, we know how often SVB and NVB alternate. They keep alternating as long as we aren’t 100% correct about what causes SVB or NVB. Once we know that, SVB can continue undisturbed and NVB will be a thing of the past. Once we know the difference between SVB and NVB, we understand, admit and feel that NVB is causing us all sorts of problems. SVB is the way of talking in which we are no longer troubled by an imaginary behavior-causing self. All our previous NVB talk about self, ego, personality, intelligence, consciousness and will power turns out to be completely irrelevant. In SVB we can at long last talk about the science of human behavior without getting side-tracked by our so-called uniqueness, our individual differences and our personal preferences, which of course simply refer to our phylogenetic, ontogenetic and cultural histories.

May 18, 2016

May 18, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

Although many behaviorists have reiterated Skinner’s words that behavior is not caused by some inner entity, but by environmental variables, they didn’t and couldn’t talk like him. They would have sounded better and calmer and they would have engaged more often in Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB), if they would have been more tuned into him. Obviously, their lack of attunement with Skinner, or any other authority figure, had a long history, which didn’t all of a sudden come to an end, because they became familiar with him or with his work. Unlike Skinner, most behaviorists produce Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). They sound very different from Skinner, because they agree with him only intellectually, not emotionally, and, consequently, their public speech is of an entirely different quality. As Skinner’s aim was to promote his operant science, which required a change in the terminology of the scientist, he focused on what a speaker says, but not on how the speaker sounds. What many people seem to overlook is that Skinner’s formulations were based on and connected with his nonverbal experiments. For him the emphasis on content resulted in SVB, while for most behaviorists the opposite is true. Even though they may have done many nonverbal lab experiments, most behaviorists are hyper-focuses on getting the word out, which resulted in NVB. With the words also a speaker’s sound comes out. If what the speaker says reflects the speaker’s well-being, which derives from scientific language, which accurately expresses how behavior works, he or she sounds satisfied. Our need to convince others decreases to the extent that we continue to experience the sense of wellbeing that comes with discovering something new. The realization that we don’t cause our own behavior is a profoundly reinforcing verbal achievement, which makes our lives into an ongoing process of discovery and exploration. Like making music, it is automatically reinforcing, which means that others no longer control the contingencies.

May 17, 2016

May 17, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

I am profoundly affected by reading the papers of my students and that results into this writing. The feedback they give to me instructs me to focus more on what they are writing about. When I read about their apprehension about listening to themselves while they speak out loud when they are alone, I am reminded of everything I have myself gone through. From each paper it is clear to what extent elements of Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) or Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) were part of the student’s behavioral history. It is also fascinating to read that the presence of NVB and the absence of SVB set the stage for a more thorough exploration of the SVB/NVB distinction. Although there are only a few students who report a history with a lot of SVB and little NVB, those who do report more SVB than NVB often do so without realizing that they are referring to NVB, while they think they are writing about SVB. Of course, these concepts are still new and if they would explore them often, they would acknowledge that they were painting a rosy picture of themselves and their family. I experience such students as distancing themselves from me, while those who rejoice in their discovery of SVB and who acknowledge the ubiquity of NVB come closer. This is not imagination. Students who make it seem as if they have SVB can’t wait to get out of my class. Although they did not come any closer, I am convinced a foundation has been laid upon which they can be build and that SVB will be more possible for them in the future. I also witnessed their development during the course of the semester and I noticed that they are more at ease, more social, less stressed, less oppositional, less anxious or pretentious. Although they kept a distance, I have noticed many moments in which they enjoyed positive emotions and togetherness. Their presence stimulates my ability to communicate the great contrast between SVB and NVB. They were validated and praised for their contribution. Undeniably, each of us has a different behavioral history. In this history we can find the causes for why we behave the way we do now.