Analysis Of Opening Skinner's Box

In the book, “Opening Skinner’s Box” Lauren Slater introduces a few famous phycologists Skinner, Milgram, and Rosenhan. Slater looks up to these phycologists and looks past their indiscretions to inform the readers of their ambitious drive to change Phycology by conducting bizarre experiments. They both have been heavily criticized for their scientific work, and it has impacted their lives and society tremendously. Milgram 's view was that people do not need emotion to inflict pain, they can inflict pain when they are told to do so by an authoritative figure. Agreeing with Milgram there are however flaws to his view, people have free will and should choose wisely. The people observed in his experiment were most likely pressured because they …show more content…
Some colleagues believe that our actions are not a reliable set of internal beliefs; instead they are external effects that change with the seasons (Slater 45). In addition to what the colleagues believe people 's actions are moved by what they believe and the values they learned from an adolescent age. Many people change where ever they travel because it 's the environment humans adapt to, as humans mature their beliefs and values grow into valuable choices that will shape their future. A newborn child isn 't born with malice in his heart, he is born with a pure heart, say perhaps he was in the foster system. Based on his abandonment issues he may be an introvert in social situations. As he matures, he was placed in a rough side of town and is now getting into trouble with the law. Time goes on, and he hung out with well-educated people and decided to attend college to become a social worker. Just like the seasons change humans change based on their surrounding whether it is a good change or bad …show more content…
As they sat around the table, they talk about their attempts of suicide. The more they had, the more respect the individual obtained. The more they talk, the less constricted they felt about the labels (Slater 75). They were not worried about the preexisted labels, in their eyes they saw no hope to get out, so they gave the doctor a real reason to mark them by taking extreme measures. Although Slater doesn 't describe the suicide attempts, it may have been a lie to gain respect or an attempt to set themselves free. If someone had obtained their American dream, and it was suddenly taken away from them, they may have gone mad. As their life is spiraling downward, they also lost their family and economic worth causing him to do something rational towards the public; this is what landed him in a mental institution. But if someone was put there against their will and a family member had placed them there at a young age then it 's understandable to see why they would resort to extreme measures.  These men inspired Slater so much that she took their experiments and tried them out in her personal life. Although it may seem unjust of her to apply these tests on her family, they were performed on a non-professional level. Slater Describes the importance of each phycologist and