NOTE: The full post by Allen that I am responding is provided after my signature.
On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:06:01 -0700, Allen Esterson wrote: >On 8 June 2011 Mike Palij wrote: >>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 … >[…] >>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" > >Mike raises a good point here that makes me think I was a bit glib in >alluding to the story of Skinner's daughter Deborah and the supposed >"Skinner box" as a "myth". Perhaps the stories that circulated might >more accurately be called rumours, as Mike suggests. > >Nevertheless, at one time it did seem to have had what might be called >semi-official warrant, as this writer indicates (writing in 2004): >"When I was a freshman in college, my Psych 101 professor told us all >about a psychologist who was so set on proving his theories about an >'apparatus' he had invented, that he went too far. The psychologist was >none other than B.F. Skinner, the inventor of the famous 'Skinner Box.' >And the story is that he locked his infant daughter in a Skinner Box >for the first two years of her life, causing her to grow up >psychologically damaged. Consequently, she sued him, after which she >tragically committed suicide. > >"What blows me away is that this story was taught in my freshman >psychology class, and the instructor truly appeared to believe that the >story was true. I believed it was true, too, and I imagine that >everyone else in the class did, too. After all, it was written up in >the text book and everything." > http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art30372.asp A few points on the statement on the www.bellaonline.com article: (1) No information is given about (a) who the professor was that made this statement (behaviorists, who predominated in academia in the first 2/3 of the 20th century, would never make such a statement; a non-research oriented psychoanalytic clinician or humanistic psychology clinician might make such a statement but only out of ignorance and/or to disparage behaviorism as represented by Skinner) and (b) which intro psych textbook contained his story? My intro psych class (back when it was a one year course) used some edition of Hilgard and Atkinson -- I don't remember seeing Skinner's work or the aircrib being presented in a negative light (one semester used the Keller PSI system which was unlikely to present Skinner and his work negatively). Is any Tipster or non-Tipster aware of any intro psych textbook that would present the aircrib story as producing madness and suicide? I think it would interesting to see text(s) that actually do this if they exists. (2) Statements like the one above are memories and, given what we know about the creation of false memories, probably should be suspect until one has supporting evidence from an independent source, like an intro psych textbook that presents the aircrib from a negative perspective. If one is just BS'ing, making statements like the one above is par for the course but if one is trying to be serious one probably has to provide more details as well as how to independently verify the claims. (3) I have no doubt that there were stories like the one alluded to above. I do have some doubt that intro psych instructors would present a story like that above as though it was factually accurate (if an instructor did do that, I suspect that the behaviorist on the faculty would give that instructor a good talking to as well as telling them to take a look at Skinner's "Cumulative Record" or ask to provide the references that presented such a story as true). Now, we all know that instructors can say some pretty stupid things in class or present their prejudices/biases as fact while being blissfully ignorant of the facts. Might there have been some instructors over the past 50 years had said something like that statement above? Possibly. But I would like a lot more information about the circumstances. (4) If someone can show that many different intro psych textbooks presented the Aircrib horror story as a fact, then I'd be willing to say that maybe it was a myth in academia like Freud's iceberg. But I don't think this is the case. Are there popular media sources that may have presented this story as fact? Yes, as evidenced by the statement above, but I believe that the number of people who believed the story to be true is rather small, say, relative to the number of people who believe people only use 10% of their brain or, upgraded for the 21st century, 20% of their brain. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu ----- Original Message ----- On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:06:01 -0700, Allen Esterson wrote: On 8 June 2011 Mike Palij wrote: >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 … […] >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" Mike raises a good point here that makes me think I was a bit glib in alluding to the story of Skinner's daughter Deborah and the supposed "Skinner box" as a "myth". Perhaps the stories that circulated might more accurately be called rumours, as Mike suggests. Nevertheless, at one time it did seem to have had what might be called semi-official warrant, as this writer indicates (writing in 2004): "When I was a freshman in college, my Psych 101 professor told us all about a psychologist who was so set on proving his theories about an 'apparatus' he had invented, that he went too far. The psychologist was none other than B.F. Skinner, the inventor of the famous 'Skinner Box.' And the story is that he locked his infant daughter in a Skinner Box for the first two years of her life, causing her to grow up psychologically damaged. Consequently, she sued him, after which she tragically committed suicide. "What blows me away is that this story was taught in my freshman psychology class, and the instructor truly appeared to believe that the story was true. I believed it was true, too, and I imagine that everyone else in the class did, too. After all, it was written up in the text book and everything." http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art30372.asp Deborah Skinner Buzan also suggests the rumours circulated in US psychology classes and beyond: "The early rumours were simple, unembellished: I had gone crazy, sued my father, committed suicide. My father would come home from lecture tours to report that three people had asked him how his poor daughter was getting on. I remember family friends returning from Europe to relate that somebody they had met there had told them I had died the year before. The tale, I later learned, did the rounds of psychology classes across America. One shy schoolmate told me years later that she had shocked her college psychology professor, who was retelling the rumour about me, by banging her fist on her desk, standing up and shouting, 'She's not crazy!'" http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/mar/12/highereducation.uk Maybe a false rumour becomes a myth if widespread belief persists beyond a shortish period of time. --- 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=10925 or send a blank email to leave-10925-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
