Book Reading 7 - Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 1: Opening Skinner’s Box

Reference Information:
Title: Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
Author: Lauren Slater
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (March 15, 2004)

Summary:
The chapter talks about the great scientific experiments of the late psychologist B.F. Skinner and the accomplishments, criticisms and controversialists that surrounded his methods. Skinner spent much of his scientific career studying and honing what he came to call operant conditioning, the means by which humans can train humans and other animals to perform a whole range of tasks and skills through positive reinforcement.
Although his contributions are enormous and that the time magazine named him the most influential living psychologist, he was surrounded with some contradictions and controversies. Skinner believed that "we are always either controlled or controlling, that our free will is really just a response to some cues that" He believed that rewards work far better in the establishment of behavior rather than punishments. Skinner's techniques have been instrumental in helping the huge population of anxiety-disordered people overcome their phobias. His theories also greatly helped patients of schizophrenia.

Discussion:
I found this chapter extremely interesting. The controversy of the skinner's box and of his daughter committing suicide kind of gave a suspense genre to the overall tone of the chapter. His experiments and methods of study was so unconventional that I could not stop myself from google-ing more information about him and digging deeper into understanding his works and personality.
Regardless of the controversies, this man has earned my respect for his contribution to the field of psychology with his concepts of positive reinforcement and behaviorism. The ideology of positive reinforcement is not vital to just psychology, but also finds its application in management studies. Today, company management and leaders use his theory of positive reinforcement to shape employee behaviors by rewarding the hard work.

Mr. and Mrs. Skinner looking at Deborah Skinner placed in the Skinner's box.