Full blog: Opening Skinners Box



Summary

This book, by Lauren Slater, details ten of some of the most important psychological experiments of this past century that have caused us to rethink about how the human mind and human behavior works. She narrates the stories of the researchers in question and their work. The researchers she describes are:

• B. F. Skinner: Skinner experimented with rats and conditioning, and found that the mind is extremely receptive to rewards, which strengthen conditioning, and that the mind is not as receptive to punishment.
• Stanley Milgram: Milgram designed an experiment where the participant was told to shock another participant up until the point where the shock would be "lethal", and found that 65% of participants would continue administering shocks to the other participant despite their better judgement. His experiments served to illustrate human's obedience to authority.
• David Rosenhan: Rosenhan and some helpers admitted themselves into mental hospitals saying that they were hearing a voice that said "thud". They found that even though they were perfectly sane, and said so after being admitted, they still would be kept in the hospital for a long time, and psychologists would swear that they were psychotic. This resulted in the questionning on psychiatric diagnosis' validity .
• John Darley and Bibb Latane: Darley and Latane, through their experiments, found that when a crisis happened and someone needed help, if a bystander perceived there were lots of other people around, would not help. These people would wait a long time, and would never truly decide on whether to help or not. But, when they thought they were the only person there to help, they would feel compelled to help.  
• Leon Festinger: Festinger studied the way that people changed their ideas and beliefs based on their actions, primarily by studying the way that cult members reacted whenever the "day of judgement" and the end of the world did not come as they had predicted.
• Harry Harlow: Harlow studied how infant monkeys came to be attached to a fake "mother" that had soft cloths on it, versus a mother that was hard and metal but provided food. He found that love does not have to do with providing resources and food.
• Bruce Alexander: In order to study the nature of addiction, Alexander placed some rats in a nice, clean environment, and others in a confined environment, and gave each of the rats water laced with morphine, and some regular water. He found that the rats in the bad conditions liked the morphine, while the rats with the nice environment didn't like the morphine, suggesting that addiction is not a physical dependency but instead a result one's environment.
• Elizabeth Loftus: Loftus showed that memories of our past quickly disintegrate and that we can never trust them. She helped participants in her experiments "remember" fake memories of being lost in the mall, and the participants were almost always sure that they had remembered this fake memory.
• Eric Kandel: Kandel showed that memory is strengthened by increasing the strength of connections between neurons, and that a specific substance called CREB helps that strengthening.
• Antonio Moniz: Moniz pioneered the practice of brain surgery, specifically the lobotomy, in order to treat patients that had depression or psychosis. A lot of his techniques are still used today.

Discussion

I really appreciate the author's personal touch and perspective on all of these experiments. It made reading the book that much more interesting. Usually, these types of works are presented in a more formal, detailed, scientific, and boring fashion. Slater makes the experiments easy to understand for the average person.
I also liked that she tried some of the experiments on her own. I don't know if I would have the guts to perform some of the experiments myself like admitting myself in a mental institution and seeing if I would be diagnosed correctly.



Book Reading #34 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

Chapter 10: Chipped

Summary
Lauren Slater relates the story of the person responsible for lobotomy. The person is Antonio Moniz

 and he is known for the starting psychosurgery. Psychosurgery is the practice that consists in cutting the fibers connecting the frontal lobe of the limbic systems. This was done in order to cure a seizure. From this type of operation, it was found that there was a correlation between pyschosurgery and a decrease in depression and anxiety. This chapter also discusses the differences and similarities between psychosurgery and taking pills like Prozac. Pills are usually more liked than actual surgery.   

Discussion

This chapter was interesting to read. Considering the time period in which the surgery was performed, I don't think I would have volunteered for this type of operation. Given the option between surgery and pills, I probably would opt for pills considering surgery is expensive.

Book Reading #32 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

Chapter 9: Memory Inc

Summary
This chapter focuses on Eric Kandel’s research with memory. It is a direct response to the previous chapter that dealt with Dr. Loftus' "Lost in the mall" experiments.  The chapter begins with the story of Henry who was operated on by Dr. Scoville, who removed Henry’s hippocampus. After the surgery Henry lost the ability to form memories. This story made Kandel set out to learn about neurons through the study of sea slugs. He discovered that the neurons grew stronger when an electrochemical signal reinforced the relationship. He also discovered CREB and the CREB repressor. CREB is a molecule in the brain that triggers the genes that produce the proteins that make memories.

Discussion

As Slater explains, Kandel is one of the oldest persons she talks about in her book. However, at his old age, he is still working on cutting edge science. I wonder what Loftus thought about his discovery on the CREB molecule.

Book Reading #29 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall

Summary
Lauren Slater relates the story of psychologist Elizabeth Loftus. Loftus' work has mainly dealt with memory recall, and the idea that memories can be implanted into a person's mind. Slater talks about Loftus' experiments in which she would show movies and then ask subjects questions by suggesting the possibility of an occurrence An example would be asking a person ""Did you recall that man had a beard?". And often the person would agree when in fact it was false.

One event that has shaped Loftus' work is her testimony in the 1990 George Franklin case in which a father was accused by his daughter of murdering her friend twenty years later. Loftus was convinced the daughter could not possibly recall such events twenty years later so vividly. However the jury did not believe her and the man was found guilty. This lead to her publishing in 1993 her findings on the "Lost in the mall" experiments in which she found that 25% of her subjects would recount false events  after they had been implanted into their minds. 25% to her mind, was enough to validate her theory.

Loftus' next focus has been on the idea of repressed memory. This is the idea that someone can completely forget a trauma, store in their  "RAM", and then call it back up on cue years later. She has received criticism from other researchers who believe repressed memory is possible. 

 

 

Discussion

This chapter was interesting and poses important questions about the validity of people's testimonies in court.

When is  a person telling the truth or not. At the end of this chapter I felt the same way as Slater. I agree that something must have happened in Loftus' life that makes her obsessed  with defending people who are wrongly accused. She also has an aversion for  recalled memory.

Book Reading #26 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

CHAPTER 7: Rat Park  

Summary
Lauren Slater relates Bruce Alexander's studies on rats. His aim was to research the effect of one’s environment on one’s addiction to drugs. Alexander thought that there were no chemical causes to addiction, but rather cultural factors that played in.  For his experiment, he put sixteen rats in a caged environment and sixteen rats in a “rat park,” Alexander exposed them both to morphine. What Alexander found was that the rats in the rat park chose drinking normal water over the morphine water while the caged rats preferred the morphine-laced water. Slater also discusses how his papers were not published in popular journals, and he was never highly regarded.  Slater once again uses herself for the experiment.  She begins taking her husbands morphine pills at night for 14 days to see if she develops an addiction, but it turns out she does not.

Discussion

Mead presents an interesting analysis on how one's environment affects his/her personal life and consequently his/her desire to use and be "addicted to" drugs. I don't know any drug addicts but it seems quite possible from documentaries I've seen. There is also an escapist attitude to it.

Book Reading #23 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

Chapter 6: Monkey Love

Summary

Lauren Slater relates Harry Harlow's  research on rhesus macaque monkeys. Slater begins by introducing Harlow as a child. She mentions the absence of love while he was growing up which may explain the studies he did later on attachment which she describes. In his early work he took infant monkeys from their mothers and observed what they did with terry cloth towels, wire-framed monkey moms with milk and wire-framed monkey moms covered with soft cloth. What he observed was that the monkeys would interact with the soft surrogate mother and favor it over the wire-framed one that fed them. In later studies Harlow had the surrogate mothers hit them with cold water or stab them. The babies still came back. This research made Harlow believe that the presence of a physical mother did not matter However, he then noticed that the monkeys with surrogate mothers could not interact properly with other monkeys and would inflict harm to themselves.

Discussion

I  did not like this chapter one bit and for some weird reason I do not recall being told this version of his experiment in my psychology class. My psychology professor seems to have omitted details... . I think the practices done on monkeys were immoral. I do not think that this kind of experimentation would be acceptable by public opinion today, and I also believe the only way this could happen today would be in a secret laboratory.

Book Reading #20 - Opening Skinner's Box

 



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

CHAPTER 5: Quieting the Mind

Summary
Lauren Slater relates Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the thought that humans change their beliefs to match current circumstances.  An example given is sananda as a savior and the number of followers.  The followers rationalized that the world had been saved rather than just them.
Slater describes some of Festinger’s other experiments including his observation of those who believed a flood would come on December 21, 1954 and an experiment involving having people lie for either $1 or $20. Another experiment focuses on a mother named Linda Santo whose daughter she claims to be a saint. Her observations and interviews with Linda Santo actually bring up more questions about cognitive dissonance.
  

Discussion

I can see on the one hand, how Slater's work could be important, but I also wonder whether this type of work would not best suit the theologist, rather the psychologist. The theologist would also look at context, and historic factors. Nevertheless, Slater presents a really interesting topic and manages to raise interesting questions.

Book Reading #16 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

CHAPTER 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing

Summary
Lauren Slater relates the 1964 New York crime in which a woman was stabbed and raped by a man at 3 o'clock in the morning, while witnesses did not intervene. She goes on to explain Darley and Latane's experiments conducted at New York University, to attempt to figure out why nobody intervened to the woman's aid even though they had plenty of time to do so. In their first experiment, Darley and Latane put a student in a room who thought other students had been placed in other rooms. One by one, they were talking about issues they had (The student was actually hearing a tape recording), and at some point you could hear from the tape a student faking a seizure. The goal was to find out whether the student would want to take action and interrupt the experiment. Darley and Latane's experiment confirmed Millgram's experiments, but most importantly showed inaction due to numbers. When in a large group, we are less likely to take immediate action to help someone. The second experiment consisted in putting two students in a room, and while they were filling up a questionnaire, some non lethal gas would be released in the room. When the student who was aiding in setting up the experiment did not react, the other student would not panick and continue filling his questionnaire. This revealed we preferred cues, eventhough we felt like acting otherwise.

Slater finally enumerates the five stages of helping behavior, and explained how people who learned about Darley and Latane's experiments were more likely to help others in the future.

Discussion

The murder Slater relates is quite gruesome, and shocking, but more shocking is the revelation that there were nearly 38 bystanders who did not intervene. Darley and Latane's important experiments gives us some explanation to this inexplicable action, and enlightens us on how we react due to the presence of others.

Book Reading #13 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

CHAPTER 3: On being sane in insane places

Summary
Wanting to test how well a psychiatrist could distinguish the "sane" from the "insane", in the early 1970's David Rosenhan decided to go into multiple psychiatric institutions, and claim he was hearing a voice: a "thud". Eight other people he recruited did the same experiment, and the results that were found were that people would get admitted into the hospital and given pills. This even after, Rosenham, and his colleagues hinted they weren't really hearing voices. Rosenhan describes how the patients of the hospital were treated with insults, and battered. He also points out the irony in the patients of the hospital noticing he was not in fact "insane", and the nurses and doctors concluding the contrary. Lauren Slater explains the reaction of a critic of Rosenhan, Spitzer, who saw this as an affront to the psychiatric field, and went to write papers refuting the experiment. Wanting to try this experiment herself, L. Slater decides to reproduce the same experiements as Rosenhan, and finds out that years later after Rosenhan's experiment, there is still a problem of misdiagnosing patients. Most of the doctors she goes see prescribe her with pills. However, Slater also praises them for not admitting her, and treating her in a respectful manner. She also concludes that the pressure of coming to a conclusion may explain why some doctors prescribe pill to their patients instead of admitting their inability to diagnose the problem.

Discussion

I liked this chapter, and the author's adventurous energy to go and try Rosenhan's experiment herself. She has had real mental problems herself in her youth, so it was interesting to see her go back to the environment she was familiar with. It was also interesting to learn how Rosenhan essentially discrited the psychiatric field, and prompter today's psychiatrists to find out other diagnosing methods.  

Book Reading #10: Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

CHAPTER 2: Obscura

Discussion

Lauren Slater relates Milgram's controversial experiments in this chapter. His experiments were devised to gage obedience to authority figures. In it a subject was given the title teacher, and the other, learner. The participants drew slips of paper to know their roles. Unknown to them, both slips said "teacher", and the actor claimed to have the slip that read "learner", thus guaranteeing that the participant would always be the "teacher". At this point, the "teacher" and "learner" were separated into different rooms where they could communicate but not see each other. The "teacher" was given an electric shock from the electro-shock generator as a sample of the shock that the "learner" would supposedly receive during the experiment. The "teacher" was then given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. The teacher began by reading the list of word pairs to the learner. The learner would press a button to indicate his response. If the answer was incorrect, the teacher would administer a shock to the learner, with the voltage increasing in 15-volt increments for each wrong answer. If correct, the teacher would read the next word pair.

The subjects believed that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. After a number of voltage level increases, the actor started to bang on the wall that separated him from the subject. After several times banging on the wall and complaining, all responses by the learner would cease. At this point, many people indicated their desire to stop the experiment and check on the learner. Some test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment. Most continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible.

Summary

I had heard of this  experiment in my psychology class, but not the way Slater relates it. It was interesting reading about this story, because it gives a context, as opposed to in a psychology class, where the experiments are only mentioned. I still disagree with the experiments, though for someone to think about that experiment at 27 years of age is quite brilliant.

Book Reading #7 - Opening Skinner's Box



Book Author: Lauren Slater  

CHAPTER 1: Opening Skinner’s Box

Summary
Lauren Slater starts this chapter with a biography of B.F. Skinner. She attempts to address the controversies, myths, and obsessions surrounding the man, and put misconceptions to rest. Skinner is known as one of America's premier behaviorist. He bacame a pscyhologist at a time where only psychoanalytic study was done. Essentially a numberless field. His experiments on rats, and findings on positive reinforcement would prove influencial in the field. Skinner's two main influences were Pavlov, and Watson. 

Some of his contemporaries in the field did not all share a positive view of him. Slater visits Kagan who seems to be dismissive about Skinner and favor the idea of free will.
Lauren Slater then describes her attempt to reconcile two aspects of Skinner that stand out. One the one hand, you have a person who made major discoveries and advanced the field of psychology with the introduction of his positive reinforment method, and on the other hand, you get the idea of an eccentric person who would like to devise a method of human subjugation through reinforcement. Another aspect the author mentions is Skinner's "Baby in box" experiment where he used his daughter Deborah as a subject.
To try to find out the truth, Slaten decides to get in contact with Skinner's daughter Julie where it is found that Deborah still lives, and that contrary to rumours, he was a loving father, and that his work was misunderstood primarily because Skinner was not effecient in conveying the ends of his experiments.

Discussion

The first chapter conveys an admiration of B.F. Skinner from the author, and an attempt to clarify some of the misconceptions surrounding  the man. She also makes a point of highlighting Skinner's contributions to the field of psychology, even though his primary focus was only on one aspect of learning which is through positive reinforcement.