Book Reading #32: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 9: Memory Inc

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Summary: In this chapter Slater relates the life of Eric Kandel and his work in the neurology field. The idea that memory is dispersed throughout the brain was proved incorrect when the case of HM proved that the removal of his hippocampus. Slater discussed CREB, a protein that can aid in memory loss.

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Discussion: The part that I found most interesting was the discussion of what pharmaceuticals could do to a person's memory - which instead of enhancing the patient's life, it would affect in a negative way. I suppose that everything in excess can be bad, and everything created for a good can also be used for the bad.

Book Reading #34: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 10: Chipped

This Century's Most Radical Mind Cures

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Summary: In this chapter, Slater relates the history of psycho-surgery and in specific lobotomies. She relates the life and work of Anonio Egas Moniz, the father of lobotomy. His experiments and his contributions to this field. Slater discusses some of the experimental cases, and later cases when psycho-surgery was already recognized as a procedure. She discusses the positive and negative effects that such a procedure can have in people's lives, but noting that many of this people rather face the negative effects than continue living with depression, anxiety and the related issues.

Discussion: This is the first time I read about psycho-surgery. I think that if I was in the position many of those patients were in, I would risk it and get the surgery. After reading this chapter, and how many prefer medication instead of surgery, I noticed so many ads in TV promoting medication for anxiety, depression, and the related.

Book Reading #29: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall

The False Memory Experiment

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Summary: Slater discusses experiments regarding memory. She presents part of the life of psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, how spent much of her career trying to demonstrate that fake memories can be created by suggestion. She wanted to prove this idea scientifically in order to help individuals she thought may be innocent about crimes that were supposedly committed years ago, and their accusations insisted they had just remembered about the event.

Discussion: I really don't buy the idea that you can forget some event if it was really traumatic, unless you are like really, really young. However, I don't understand how easily they claim that memories can be suggested and believed as if they were true, and how people would elaborate in the 'memories' as if they were true. If its not easy to forget, it should not be easy to manipulated into believing a made up story.

Book Reading #26: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 7: Rat Park

The Radical Addiction Experiment

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Summary: Slater relates research  done in the area of addiction. She first describes research where animals where caged and with doses of drugs at their reach where they on their own would press a button when they wanted to receive a doses. Alexander claimed the behavior of the animals was not due to a physical addiction, but that is more psychological since they were caged. With the help of other researchers, Alexander created a Rat Park, a "normal" environment to prove his point. In fact, the addiction of the rats decreased compared to those in the cages (even to a minimum). However, towards the end of the chapter Slater claims the Rat Park was not a "normal" environment, but a perfect one; one that humans will never be able to obtain on earth.

Discussion: I found the Rat Park idea quiet interesting, however I must agree with Slater that the Rat Park is not a normal environment at all! It was a perfect place, which does not exist for humans... If we were to live in a Rat Park - like for humans, then we would have no problems at all, our lives would be perfect! How does this relate to Computer Science? Well maybe it is telling us that we should be realistic, develop our technology to be used for the average environment, so that any user can find it effective and desirable, and not just wonder how perfect it would be if...!

Book Reading #23: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 6: Monkey Love

Harry Harlow's Primates

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Summary: Slater discusses the life and experiments of Harry Harlow. Her main topic is the experiments involving primates and the effects they had in the psychology field. According to Slater, Harlow was the first scientist who would make experiments about love (attachment, proximity, etc. were the words other scientists preferred). Harlow is described as someone cold, since his experiments could be seen as crude; however, his son describes him as someone who loved his family very much. The idea of animal cruelty is discussed, bringing the question of giving value or preference of human lives of animal lives.

Discussion: This chapter makes me reflect about the value that I give to animals' lives. When we were discussing the experiments done by Milgram, my position was that even though they provided useful information and advances in psychology, they were still wrong and unethical. It is wrong to play with people's feelings and mind sanity, much more their own physical health. However, when the ethical question about animal experiments was raised, my opinions and views were suddenly confused. If the life of a loved one could be saved by research done with animal testing, then I am for it. But it still makes me feel bad about myself, animals are also living things, and if we, humans, are so similar to primates, why are their lives values less? It is complicated!

Book Reading #20: Opening Skinner's Box

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Chapter 5: Quieting the Mind

The Experiments of Leon Festinger

Summary: In this chapter, Slater presents some of the experiments and main concepts introduced by Leon Festinger. She focuses on his experiments about Cognitive Dissonance, and how individuals are willing to adjust their own beliefs for those that better fit or justify one's behavior. In a major part of the essay, Slater discusses her own interactions with a woman that fits the characteristics studied by Festinger and tries to understand if in reality she was interacting with a person reacting to cognitive dissonance.

Discussion: Lying for one dollar or lying for 20? Interesting experiment. Even though I don't know much about psychology, it makes sense that someone who lied for twenty dollars would accept it, but maybe those that lied for only one were ashamed of themselves and tried to justify it. In the Design of Everyday Things, Norman ascertains that humans are rational being, that we want an explanation for everything. I can relate this idea to the cognitive dissonance. If we don't have an explanation for something, we will try to adjust our ideas and beliefs to where they match, and maybe trying to give an explanation of something is what changes one's beliefs.

Book Reading #16: Opening Skinner's Box

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Chapter 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing

Darley and Latene's Training

Manual - A Five-Stage Approach

Summary: Slater describes the five-stage helping behavior developed by Darely and Latane: 1) notice an event is occurring; 2) interpret the event as one in which help is needed; 3) assume personal responsibility; 4) decide what action to take; 5) take the action. Darley and Latane performed two experiments that wished to study the behavior of individuals witnessing an event where help was needed, the seizure and the smoke experiment. They concluded that much of the results were dependent of whether the subject believed he was the only helpful resource, or if there were others that could be helping instead of them - "diffusion of responsibility."

Discussion: The crime described in this chapter was so tragic. I don't think such details of the assault were necessary. However, I did enjoy reading about the experiments they performed. The first experiment was really clever in my opinion. The second one was just so real; I think I have found myself in such a position before, where I don't know if something is just fine or it really is an emergency. I think the concept of diffusion of responsibility is very logical, even though it should not be that way.

Book Reading #13: Opening Skinner's Box

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Chapter 3: On Being Sane in Insane Places

Experimenting with Psychiatric Diagnosis

Summary: In this chapter, Slater talks about the experiment done by David Rosenhan during the early 1970s. He and eight of his friends went to different psychiatric facilities all across the country, and admitted to have heard a voice, then be honest about the rest of their "symptoms", be normal. Their objective was to see how many of them would be admitted to the hospital and given a diagnostic, even though they were perfectibility fine, sane. The results, all of them were admitted and stayed there up to fifty-two days. Slater discusses the reactions that this experiment had over the psychiatry field, and how much psychiatrists tried to refute Rosenhan's claims; he assured psychiatrists were giving diagnosis based on the context of the patient instead of an analysis of their symptoms.Slater repeated the experiment through out eight psychiatric facilities across the country herself, and even though she was not admitted, she was diagnosed and given pills. 

Discussion: I think it is incredible how such an experiment had so much affect over a complete field of medicine, as they categorize themselves. In my opinion, the examples that were given by psychiatrists trying to refute the results of the experiment cannot be compared to the simplicity of the experiment done by Rosenhan. And, I was also really surprised that Slater was not discovered in any of the hospitals she went to, I mean she was repeating exactly the same things that Rosenhan had said, how can it be possible that all those psychiatrist that talked to her did not recognize the sentence "I hear a voice that says thud," if this experiment really had such an impact on the field.

Book Reading #10: Opening Skinner's Box

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Chapter 2: Obscura

Stanley Milgram and Obedience to Authority

Summary:  In this second chapter of her book, Slater relates the story about Stanley Milgram, and more specifically on the experiment of obedience to authority. In this experiment, Milgram wanted to study the reaction of people and the obedience that they would exert even when they were doing something they knew they were not supposed to. The experiment consisted in applying increasing voltages to a supposed learner every time they answered a question wrong. However, there was an actor behind the wall acting like if he was receiving real shocks. Through out the chapter, Slater researches more about the experiment, and the people that participated in it. She also relates the impact the study had over society and also over Milgram's professional career. The results of the study: 65% of the subjects followed the experiment through. Slater is able to talk to two of the experiment's subjects: one that proceeded with the experiment until the end, and one that did not. She comes to a great surprise when she learns that what was expected from these individuals was the complete opposite, the one that was obedient during the experiment lived a life of challenges and "disobedience," while the one that defied Milgram's experiment had a life of "obedience."

Discussion: Without the intention to sound redundant, but I really enjoyed reading this chapter. It is things that I have never heard before, and it is quite intriguing to learn about how such experiments were even possible, and how they impacted people's lives. In the chapter she mentions that there were hundreds of subjects of which she only discussed the lives of two of them. With this information is impossible to draw conclusions of whether or not the experiment was effective, of what the results were on the subjects, and if the results depended on the personality of the subjects. 
When trying to tie this chapter back to the field of computer science, I really have to give it some thought.  So, in this experiment, he was testing how obedient people can become, with complete disregard for their own morals and values. Maybe it relates in the sense that we develop technology, and people use these developments, but each one of them will have a different reaction and interaction with the technology. It can be good, or it can be bad. Even when we might have the intention of developing something with a certain purpose or objective, each user will give it their own use.  

Book Reading #7: Opening Skinner's Box

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Chapter 1: Opening Skinner's Box

B.F. Skinner's Rat Race

Summary: In this chapter, Slater discusses much of the work and life of B.F. Skinner. Lauren emphasizes the areas where he had most recognition in, but also those that even though not recognized, he did influenced greatly. Even though she starts the chapter by describing what many people think of him, and how they describe him, she gives a turn and starts describing his work and life from her own point of view, and the information she gathers from his daughter Julie.

Discussion: Before reading this chapter, I had not much knowledge about who B.F. Skinner was, and what he represents for the psychology field. I think I had heard a little about him, maybe a couple of years ago in a psychology class, but not much details about his work and life. I was really surprised by the first couple of pages describing Skinner, but then as she explained it from her own point of view and his daughter's testimony I realized he was not that "evil," as Slater thinks many people would describe him. I can't say I completely agree with all of his claims, but I am interested in reading more about positive reinforcement.