Okay, I just quickly scanned the entire chapter on
Skinner, and I'm absolutely convinced this whole hullabaloo over her
misinterpretation of Skinner is entirely overblown, and her words taken out of
context.
The death of Skinner's daughter in the
bowling alley, the lawsuit, etc., she describes as what most people
think and remember (inaccurately) about Skinner. Here are her actual words:
"Say the name "Skinner" to twenty college-educated
people, and fifteen of them will respond with an adjective like "evil."
This I know to be true, as I have done it as an experiment. Of those
fifteen who responded, ten brought up the baby in the box - what was her name
they ask, Julia, Kimberly, Annie May? - who was so traumatized by her father's
protocols throughout her infancy that she wound up killing herself in a hotel
room, with rope and a pistol - the details are clear. This much we presume
we know: Her name was Deborah. He wanted to train her, so he kept
her caged for two full years, placing with her cramped square space bells and
food trays and all manner of mean punishments and bright rewards, and he tracked
her progress on a grid. And then, when she was thirty-one and frankly
psychotic, she sued him for abuse in a genuine court of law, lost the case, and
shot herself in a bowling alley in Billings, Montana. Boom-boom went the
gun. Its resonating sound signaled the end of behaviorism's heyday and the
beginning of the dark suspicions that have clouded it ever since."
Slater does indeed interview Julie Vargas,
Skinner's other daughter, and reports that Julie told her that her
sister is alive and well, living in London, is an artist, etc. Julie
even took Lauren Slater to Skinner's home and Slater reports their reverent
conversation. She also discusses the famous Ladies Home Journal
article, decrying its obvious lack of academic impressively. This whole
thing has gotten woefully out of hand.
So, I say we stop jumping to conclusions about
whether of not Slater slandered Skinner. (Say that last phrase three
times, really fast.) I haven't read the rest of the book, so can't testify
to the further fury (my, I'm in an alliteration mode today) of Loftus and
others. There's a nice little interview with Kagan - a little
humorous with him diving under his desk to demonstrate that he has free will -
and some other nice touches.
So I recommend that Stephen Black tell the library
to keep the order for Slater's book. I think it's going to be an
interesting read and not the piece of trash we've been led to
expect.
Beth Benoit
University System of New
Hampshire
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