October 2020
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 21
“In a paper called “On ‘Having’ a Poem,” I compared a poet to a mother. Although the mother bears the child and we call it her child, she is not responsible for any of its features. She gave it half of its genes, but she got those from her parents. I argued that the same […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 20
“I once gave what was supposed to be the same lecture to fifteen audiences. I used a good many slides that served as an outline, but I began to abbreviate or drop comments that did not seem to arouse interest and retain everything that brought a clean-cut response or a laugh. Near the end of […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 19
“I once used E. G. Boring’s The Physical Dimensions of Consciousness as an instrument of self-management. I disagreed so violently with the author’s position that after reading a page or two I would find my verbal behavior very strong.” (p. 138)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 15
“For years, an electric clock on my desk ran only when the light was on, and I added a point to a cumulative record whenever the clock completed twelve hours. The slope of the curve showed me how much time I was spending each day (and how damaging it was to go off on a […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 14
“The great generalized reinforcer, money, is usually poorly contingent upon behavior at your desk. It controls too effectively when a writer begins to write only the kinds of things that have sold well.” (p. 137)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 13
“The results [of aversive control] are not always bad. Many famous writers have worked mostly under aversive pressure. Balzac wrote only when he needed money, Dostoevski only in return for advances he had received.” (p. 137)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 12
“A familiar example [of aversive control] is the pause in conversation that must be filled and that leads, too often, to verbal behavior about trivia—the weather, the latest news, what someone is wearing. It is also the occasion for hasty and ungrammatical speech, or nonsense, or revealing slips.” (p. 137)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 11
“ “More than one history in one lifetime leads to multiple selves, no one of which can be said to be the real you. The writer of fiction profits from the multiplicity of selves in the invention of character.” (p. 136)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 10
“One of the most widely reprinted and translated papers of mine, “Freedom and the Control of Men,” was first written almost entirely in the form of notes. When I was asked for a paper on that theme, I found that it was practically written.” (p. 135)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 8
“As a result of [setting up a nice place to write and always write at the same time of the day], the setting almost automatically evokes verbal behavior. No warm-up is needed. A circadian rhythm develops that is extremely powerful. At a certain time every day, you will be highly disposed to engage in serious […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 7
“It is helpful to write always at the same time of the day. Scheduled obligations often raise problems, but an hour or two can almost always be found in the early morning—when the telephone never rings and no one knocks at the door. And it is important that you write something, regardless of quantity, every […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 6
“A convenient place [for writing] is important. It should have all the facilities needed for the execution of writing . . . It should be a pleasant place and should smell good. Your clothing should be comfortable. Since the place is to take control of a particular kind of behavior, you should do nothing else […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 5
“What about drugs? Alcohol? Tobacco? Marijuana? There are authentic cases of their productive effects in poetry and fiction, but very few in which they have had a good effect on serious thinking.” (p. 133)
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 3
“If I have forgotten the key to my house and “it occurs to me” to look under the mat, it is not an idea that has occurred to me but rather the behavior of looking, and it occurs because under similar circumstances I have found a key under the mat or have heard someone say, […]
Upon Further Reflection. Chapter 9:How to Discover What You Have to Say: A Talk to Students. Quote 2
“In the last chapter of Verbal Behavior, I argue that thinking is simply behaving, and it may not be too misleading to say that verbal responses do not express ideas but are the ideas themselves. They are what “occur to us” as we consider a set of circumstances.” (p. 132)