Book Reading: Opening Skinner's Box (Chapters 1 & 2)

Chapter 1:
“Opening Skinner’s Box” is a brief look into the studies done by B. F. Skinner, arguably the most influential American psychologist. The book is written by Lauren Slater, who is a psychologist and a writer. Chapter one introduces the relevant background studies that paved the way for Skinner. This mainly includes a glimpse into the works of Ivan Pavlov, a Russian Physiologist who was able to train a dog to drool as a response to the ringing of a bell. Chapter one also includes a short introduction to Skinner’s studies, which included training a dog to play hide and seek and raising his daughter Deborah in a sealed box (which isn’t as bad as it sounds) for the first two years of her life. 

Also, Lauren visits Julie, B. F. Skinner’s other daughter, and learns more about Skinner’s goals and ideals. This trip culminates in a visit to Skinner’s study room, which has been preserved in the exact state that he left it in before he was rushed to the hospital and passed away in 1990. One of the most interesting parts of the trip is the perspective that is gained by talking with one of Skinner's daughter; someone who can truly debunk most of the myths surrounding the life and studies of B. F. Skinner.

Chapter 2:
In chapter 2, Lauren Slater summarizes Milgram’s obedience experiments. This part of the book is a bit boring because we have read Milgram’s book, but noting Slater’s opinions of the obedience experiments is interesting. Most of this part of the chapter is devoted to summarizing the obedience experiments, including the multiple variations, but it is interesting to hear it from a different perspective. Slater does not seem to be completely sold on the point that Milgram is trying to make about obedience, but does not discount the enormity of the results of Milgram's obedience experiments.

In the second part of chapter 2, Slater interviews two of the participants of the obedience experiment. First, Joshua Chaffin tells Slater about how he disobeyed at 150 volts and that he would need a psychiatrists if he had gone any further. What is interesting is that upon further inspection, he seems to have lived the life of a person that would have been associated with the obedient subjects. Joshua also divulges that the main reason that he disobeyed was out of self interest, because he felt that he was going to have a heart attack. Another subject participant, code named Jacob Plumfield in order to protect his identity, explained that he obeyed completely, but learned a lot from the experiment. Jacob changed his whole life based on the things that he learned from the obedience experiments. Also of note, one of the main detractors of Milgram was Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, who taught at Harvard and specializes in World War II war crimes.