Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this ebook
A century can be understood in many ways - in terms of its inventions, its crimes or its art. In Opening Skinner's Box, Lauren Slater sets out to investigate the twentieth century through a series of ten fascinating, witty and sometimes shocking accounts of its key psychological experiments.
Starting with the founder of modern scientific experimentation, B.F. Skinner, Slater traces the evolution of the last hundred years' most pressing concerns - free will, authoritarianism, violence, conformity and morality. Previously buried in academic textbooks, these often daring experiments are now seen in their full context and told as stories, rich in plot, wit and character.
Lauren Slater
Lauren Slater is the author of Welcome to My Country, Prozac Diary and Love Works Like This, and has written articles and contributed pieces to the New York Times, Harper's, Elle and Nerve. Her essays are widely anthologized and she is a frequent guest on US radio shows, including 'The People's Pharmacy' on NPR.
Related to Opening Skinner's Box
Related ebooks
The Mentality of Apes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInto the Abyss: A neuropsychiatrist's notes on troubled minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Psychology Gone Wrong:: The Dark Sides of Science and Therapy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rethinking Theories of Mind. Toward Phenomenology and Neuroscience. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Introduction to Social Psychology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Erich Fromm Reader: Readings Selected and Edited by Rainer Funk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brainwashed: A New History of Thought Control Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSocial Psychology of Punishment of Crime Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Find Out in Psychology: A Guide to the Literature and Methods of Research Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey F*** You Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Do the Things We Do: Psychology in a Nutshell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvolutionary Criminology: Towards a Comprehensive Explanation of Crime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freud A to Z Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Joosr Guide to... The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson: A Journey Through the Madness Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of James Fallon's The Psychopath Inside Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBorn for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential--and Endangered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Irrelevant Experience: The Secret Diary of an Assistant Psychologist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGroup Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Science of Being Human: Why We Behave, Think and Feel the Way We Do Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Treatise of Human Nature: Illustrated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Mattering: Understanding the Human Need to be Significant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Psychologists and Their Theories for Students: BURRHUS FREDERIC (B.F.) SKINNER Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTen Steps to Positive Living: (Second Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shadow Child: Living With a Sibling's Addiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
History For You
100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The ZERO Percent: Secrets of the United States, the Power of Trust, Nationality, Banking and ZERO TAXES! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wise as Fu*k: Simple Truths to Guide You Through the Sh*tstorms of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The War of Art: by Steven Pressfield | Includes Analysis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Opening Skinner's Box
112 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I must have a different definition of "great."As the title says, book is about psychological experimentation -- and some of the experiments, such as B. F. Skinner's, are genuinely great. But some... aren't. They don't lead anywhere. Except, it seems to me, in Lauren Slater's mind.That's my real problem with this book. There seems to be a disconnect between Slater and the science. She often doesn't want it to be true, and so she makes it come out as if the science didn't work. And then she keeps on piling on text that isn't about the experimentation.I know that some experiments are cruel. I know that some produce surprising things. But the way to get around that isn't to criticize the experiment. It's to either find another (testable) explanation for the results, or to find a way to disconfirm them.Psychology and psychiatry have made great strides in the last century -- and they still have a long way to go. But, for the most part, these are not the experiments that made the strides (e.g. where is the discussion of the causes of psychosis, and the treatments that do and don't work to deal with it?), and the discussion does not tell us where we have failed. Slater has studied psychology -- but, as a person with training in the hard sciences, this book felt like pure touchy-feely-ness.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I can't rave enough about this book. Fascinating subject, beautifully told. This is a non-fiction account of some of the most significant psychological experiments of the 20th century, putting them and their creators in context and showing you the impact of the studies on the world and the psychologists who thought them up. Very informative and equally readable!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5...a clever and sometimes difficult book to read about major groundbreaking experiments in psychology in the 1900 until now. The wire mother is in here, as well as lobotomies, free will, and many other looks into experiments, their accidental biases and how they effected humanity. MUCH easier to read than a textbook, that's for sure!!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautifully written book combining journalistic curiosity, psychological intelligence and a novelist's lyricism in telling the deeper stories behind some of the twentieth century's most incredible psychological experiments. From delving further into well-known studies, such as Milgram's obedience testing, to exploring lesser known but equally profound experiments, Slater opens our eyes to the ethics, the narratives, and the insights into humanity provided by these discoveries, and the amazing minds that drove them forward.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pure poetry. Laura uses the structure of foundational experiments in social psychology to raise deep questions about medicine, free will, obedience, and the ethics of experiments that involve conscious beings.I've reconsidered long held ideas because of this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough for people who are unfamiliar with how brains work but don't want to wade through the dry details.If Mary Roach wrote about psychology, but actually had something to say, she might write this book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a quick read and I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't use it as my first reference source for information about any of the experiments described. The author has made some effort to interview the experimenters, subjects, or family members of participants in a set of well-known psychological experiments. Each chapter is a very subjective story of the experiment, and the impact it has had on our understanding of the human mind, and of the effect the experiment had on the author. While the author's emotional reaction to her research did make it easy to identify with the 'characters' in the story, this reads like a third hand memoir. I was also bothered by how people's religion was almost always identified, even when it had no bearing on the subject of the experiment.So - an entertaining read, OK for getting an overview, might be good to hook someone looking at the subject for the first time, but I'd advise readers to also look at other sources.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very illuminating. As someone who has studied psychology and learned about many of the experiments in this book it was fascinating to learn about the background to them. Lots of details about the people behind the science helps to put it into context. I've read this book a few times and know I will go back to it again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is about ten controversial and revolutionary psychological experiments of the twentieth century. You'll probably recognize some of them, such as Stanley Milgram's obedience research, but others will be brand new. In fact, it was fascinating to see how two experiments could appear to completely contradict each other yet still be valid. My only criticism of the book was that sometimes the author got too wrapped up in her own experience with the experiments and didn't elaborate on them as much as she could, but overall it's a fun way to learn about some really interesting experiments without getting bogged down in the technical side of things.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A brief, readable history of psychological experiments on animals and humans. Fails to draw out many of the ethical implications of such research.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My uncle lent me this book to give me a brief bit of background in the field of psychology and I didn't expect to enjoy the prose quite so much. Slater's choice of structure is excellent, interweaving the narrative of the scientists with their story and her explanations of concepts are lucid. The only instances, mostly in the first couple essays, that were overwrought and her over amplification of herself in these pieces weakens them as it is not a consistent thread.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here’s a little experiment to try out on yourself. Go to a part of the bookshop you never visit and choose a book on a subject you’d never usually consider. Last week I tried it out by accident and I stumbled on this little gem. Actually, I wandered into the psychology rows, looking for a book, Musicophilia by Dr. Oliver Sachs. I’d heard his podcast and the book sounded interesting. Having located it, it struck me as rather dry. I changed my mind, chastised myself for wandering in where I didn’t belong and then I stumbled on Lauren Slater. Her book, that is.This is a little book describing ten advances in research psychology, but from a very human angle. She talks about the experimenters and their subjects (animal and human) and herself. The experiments were often controversial, using methods on the ethical frontier, and the conclusions disputed. Slater herself is often present in the narrative, evaluating her own reactions, drawing examples bravely and even recklessly from her own life, and experimenting with herself as guinea pig. She meets many of the protagonists and is blunt (and sometimes indiscreet) in her judgement and reporting on them. She is balanced and open-minded about the experiments, setting out the pros and cons and letting the reader decide.I found the whole a delightful and easy read for an utter novice in the field and I’ll be roaming unfamiliar aisles in my bookshop in search of more surprises.