Reference:
Opening Skinner's Box
Lauren Slater
2008 W.W. Norton & Company
Summary:
Slater summarizes the life and experiments of B. F. Skinner. Skinner, influenced by Pavlov's work in conditioning reflexes, experimented with conditioning behavior. Skinner found that he was able to alter the behavior of rats, pidgeons, dogs, pigs, and other animal by simply using positive reinforcement. However, these findings led Skinner to more or less reject the notion of free will. As a result, there are many who demonize him and his work.
Discussion:
I've heard the argument that people only behave the way they do because of the experiences they've had in life, and I'm just not buying it. If there is no free will, then ethics and morality are pointless. If someone commits a crime, it's not their fault because they were only behaving in the way predetermined for them. Like Kagan diving under his desk, I believe that we can chose what we want to do when we want to do it. (As a sidenote, I also don't buy the assertion that negative reinforcement has no effect. If someone burns their hand on a hot stove, I'm pretty darn sure they won't be reaching for the stovetop anytime soon. There are some lessons you only have to learn once.)
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| Taken from xkcd.com |
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