On Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:10:45 -0700, Allen Esterson wrote: [snip] >Alberto Martinez on the making of scientific myths: >"Speculations evolve into alleged anecdotes that even lead to scholarly >studies. Laypersons, scientists and history professors are all >vulnerable to the charm of 'likely stories'." > http://www.utexas.edu/know/2011/06/06/science_secrets/ > >Psychology (of course) is not immune from the dissemination of myths: > > http://www.snopes.com/science/skinner.asp
I'm not sure that Skinner's "Air Crib" and rumors that his daughter was psychotic and a suicide should be considered a "myth" of psychology in the same sense as, say, "We only use 10% of out brain" or even the claim that Freud use icebergs as metaphors for the mind as he conceived it (Scott Lilienfeld & Co list most of the common/popular myths in psychology in their book "50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology). It is unclear to me who actually believed the Skinner "myth" (I have not read Lauren Slater's book and maybe she identifies relevant sources) but it was not presented in intro psych textbooks or other sources that students would have presented to them (unlike the iceberg myth) nor does it seem to be a popular belief (unlike the 10% brain usage myth). As an undergraduate I actually went and got the Ladies Home Journal article, read it, and always wondered how anyone could think it was a tool or torture or whatever (indeed, snopes make the same point which suggests that anyone who reached this conclusion on the basis of this article has some real serious intellectual/emotional issues). The "Baby in a Box" article is reprinted in Skinner's "Cumulative Record" but I believe that first edition was published in 1972 and I had searched for the article prior to 1972, Part of the problem might be with the colloquial use of the term "Skinner box". Traditionally, an operant chamber was informally referred to as a Skinner box but when people started to refer to the air crib as a Skinner box it is quite possible that people might have though Deborah Skinner was being forced to bar press or peck at a lit disk in order to get food, water, and/or attention. So, the assertion of deleterious effects of the air crib on Deborah Skinner are clearly false but it is unclear who actually believes this to be true -- I would think that a false belief has to have some widespread acceptance for it to be considered a "myth" (consider: is the belief that President Obama was born in Kenya, is a secret Muslim, and has had all of his achievements given to him instead of earning it a myth or a delusion?). -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=10897 or send a blank email to leave-10897-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
