Commentary On The Book 'Opening Skinners' By Lauren Slater
Within chapter one of Opening Skinners Book Lauren Slater brings the reader’s attention in through a whirlwind of thoughts, gossip, research, and even an interview with B.F. Skinner’s daughter Julie Skinner Vargas. She begins to report where he came from, whom he fell in love with, and where his life began. Within the walls of Harvard he began to put into place an experiment for rats that would later become a huge advantage into psychology (10). Later, Skinner begins to recall how to train animals with reinforcement. Skinner believed we could train people through the same ways he could train a dog, through obedience and reinforcement (15). This idea seems to be questioned by many. Can we as humans be trained? I do not deny that it is possible,
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Professor Jerome Kagen Smokes, a man who worked with Skinner, suggested that no one can make anyone do something they do not want to do (17). Some argue whether or not Skinner placed his daughter, Deborah Skinner, into a box and raised her inside of this box as an experiment. In order to verify this, Slater searches and searches for Skinner’s daughter. She did not find his daughter, but she did find his other daughter who wanted to advocate for her father, Julie. She tells Slater how much both girls loved their father, how he did nothing but support them, did not believe in punishment, and cared a lot about science and people. She loved him so much she even preserved the very last piece of chocolate he ate. Many suggest he was a man of cruelty and loved science more than his own family, but his own family suggests he was kind, loving, and cared about people. Slater tried to find out more about Skinner, and within this chapter, I believe he was misunderstood and complicated. I do not believe we should hurt animals, but sometimes science comes at a cost. We will never know if he truly put his daughter in a box, but science has come a long way in psychology because of his discoveries and we cannot deny he changed history
Professor Jerome Kagen Smokes, a man who worked with Skinner, suggested that no one can make anyone do something they do not want to do (17). Some argue whether or not Skinner placed his daughter, Deborah Skinner, into a box and raised her inside of this box as an experiment. In order to verify this, Slater searches and searches for Skinner’s daughter. She did not find his daughter, but she did find his other daughter who wanted to advocate for her father, Julie. She tells Slater how much both girls loved their father, how he did nothing but support them, did not believe in punishment, and cared a lot about science and people. She loved him so much she even preserved the very last piece of chocolate he ate. Many suggest he was a man of cruelty and loved science more than his own family, but his own family suggests he was kind, loving, and cared about people. Slater tried to find out more about Skinner, and within this chapter, I believe he was misunderstood and complicated. I do not believe we should hurt animals, but sometimes science comes at a cost. We will never know if he truly put his daughter in a box, but science has come a long way in psychology because of his discoveries and we cannot deny he changed history