Chapter 1: Opening Skinner's Box:
B. F. Skinner's Rat Race:
In this chapter, the person behind the idea of Skinner's Box is explained. I had never heard of Skinner, or his box before reading this book, but I had heard many times about the results of his experiments. I am always surprised to learn the details about the person behind the discoveries. Who knew that Skinner would be such a humanitarian, that he wanted to make a society where everyone was the best they could possibly be? There is so much to the descriptions of people that gets ignored because their actions seems contradictory to that description. I am glad that Lauren Slater was able to find someone who was related to Skinner and determine exactly what happened within that family, and disprove some of the myths surrounding him. If I discovered something earth shattering, I would want to be remembered for the good and true things not the myths.Chapter 2: Obscura:
Stanley Milgram and Obedience to Authority:
The main topics covered in this section were a description of Milgram's experiment, a description of Milgram himself, and two discussions with people who were part of Milgram's experiments. I greatly enjoyed getting to know more about Stanley Milgram and who he was. He died young, and while I'm sure that made an impression on his family, what would have happened if he had lived for many more year? How else could he have changed society? The two men who were interviewed had conflicting feelings about the results of the experiments. The man who was disobedient in the experiment ended up being rather compliant in life and the man who was obedient in the experiment ended up being disobedient in life. What an oxymoron! Clearly, for those people who were part of the experiment, it taught them something. I would like to know how I would have responded if placed in that position, but I never want to actually be placed in that situation.Chapter 3: On Being Sane in Insane Places:
Experimenting with Psychiatric Diagnosis:
Rosenhan is an interesting person. Who would willingly submit themselves to a psychiatrist? Anyway, the experiment itself seemed rather creative and interesting. I have always pictured an asylum as something akin to a prison. According to Rosenhan and his associates, this is very much the case (at least in the 1970's). There are so many possible scenarios that could place someone who has no condition in an asylum, why were the doctors unable to detect who was sane and who wasn't while the insane patients were clearly able to do so? I feel sorry for those who are placed in an asylum and don't need to be there.The author's re-creation of the experiment in modern day had different results. While the author was not placed in the asylum, she was diagnoses with a wide variety of diseases which, according to friends and family, she did not have. I think that as we learn more about how the brain works, we will be able to more easily determine who has serious symptoms and who doesn't. The average American probably would not even realize if he had psychotic symptoms.
I feel that the most interesting part of this chapter was the challenge posted by one hospital stating that they were able to determine who were psuedopatients. The fact that they stated there were 41 psuedopatients when in fact there were none, leads credence to the fact that psychiatrists did (and possible still do) not know what exactly makes a person contain a symptom. I would also have liked to have seen some actual numbers regarding this experiment.
Chapter 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing:
Darley and Latane's Training Manual - A Five-Stage Approach:
To start with, why on Earth is this chapter entitles "In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing"? There are minimal references to planes, and only one reference to a water landing (which makes no sense). Anyway, moving on... There are five stages of helping behavior:1. You, the potential helper, must notice that an event is happening.
2. You must interpret the event as one in which help is needed.
3. You must assume personal responsibility.
4. You must decide what action to take.
5. You must then take the action.
These five steps seem obvious, but apparently if you are given these instructions you will be twice as likely to help. I was shocked that no one helped the young woman who was being stabbed. I would like to think that I would at the very least have called the police, but there is no way for me to know what I would do until I am placed in this situation.
Additionally, I think the author went a little crazy buying the gas masks for herself and her daughter after 9/11, but I can understand the reasons behind it.
I didn't think there was very much mentioned about the actual experiment in this chapter. I don't really understand why the experiment was done or what the researchers learned from it. Since I have been exposed to this information I am now twice as likely to help a person in need, Yay!
Chapter 5: Quieting the Mind:
The Experiments of Leon Festinger:
Festinger spent time explaining the concept of dissonance. This means that a person changes his/her rationalizations to meet the current beliefs and not changing his/her beliefs to meet the rationalization. The cult of Sananda is an interesting topic to discuss. This is where Festinger originally got his ideas on dissonance. The cult assumed that a world ending event would happen and this event didn't, so instead of assuming their belief was wrong they assumed that because so many people were made aware of the destruction, it was no longer necessary. Odd, but apparently true.After the descriptions of dissonance according to Festinger, Slater spent time describing dissonance in the common world. While I can understand the reason for this, it is still rather surprising that she is talking about a real person who is so devoted to her daughter. I understand that some people need a more realistic approach to determine what exactly dissonance is, but Slater seems to take this too far. She does things which I feel are awful and should never be written about, the young woman who was healing people is particularly terrible. Maybe by the end of this book she will have written one chapter which does not spend large amounts of time talking about nonsense.
Chapter 6: Monkey Love:
Harry Harlow's Primates:
Harlow is a despicable excuse of a human being. The things he did to those monkeys are inexcusable. While I understand the need for research on animals, some of the research done was absolutely terrible. Who would deprive a mother of their child, and vice versa, other than a despicable person? Now that I've gotten that out of my system, we really did learn a large number of things from Harlow's monkey experiments. We learned that there are multiple items needed to ensure a healthy child, but these items are not the same as what we used to think. We also learned the effects on an isolated childhood for the children as adults, without the need to actually isolate children. Despite all of these advances, I think I would have preferred to have never had Harlow treat the animals in the manner that he did.I can't believe it, a chapter that had minimal information not related to the researcher presented in it. Minimal mentions of her family. This is the kind of chapter I wish the whole book had been.
Chapter 7: Rat Park:
The Radical Addiction Experiment:
The experiments conducted in this chapter leave me desiring something else. Each of these experiments seems to be at one end of the spectrum, the amazing or the terrible. I feel that if there was a rat experiment where the rats were not treated terribly but not placed in an amazing habitat, the results would show something similar to everyday life. Neither Alexander nor Kleber are correct in their hypothesis, outside of the conditions of the experiment.I am surprised by the willingness of the author to participate in activities that could cause serious harm to herself or others. Not only did she choose to take drugs, she also participated in activities (potentially including driving) while under their influence. This would place her as one of the dumbest people that I know since driving while taking a medicine that you are not sure how it will affect you is not recommended by anyone.
The actual rat park experiment seemed rather tame compared with some of the others described in this book. I am not sure that the remaining experiments will be all that entertaining if the complexity of the experiments is decreasing as a fear.
Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall:
The False Memory Experiment:
Reading this experiment shocked me. Not because the idea is something that I've never heard before, but because I suddenly wondered what of my memory is wrong? I personally have few memories of my childhood, so I would like to think that I would not be susceptible to suggestions but I do not know.The concept of suggested memories is not all that unique to me, but the experiment itself is. Telling people that they were lost in a mall, how does Loftus know that the person was not lost in the mall as a child? This is just one of the things that I wish were explained in more detail in this book.
Loftus's desire to help those wrongfully imprisoned is noble, but I wish there was an easy way to tell if someone was innocent or not. I would hate to be responsible for the release of an rightfully convicted felon. Maybe someday there will be a conclusive test to determine who is telling the truth and who is lying.
Chapter 9: Memory Inc:
Eric Kandel's Sea Slug Experiment:
Despite the fact that this chapter was titled after Eric Kandel and his experiment, the majority of this chapter had little to do with Kandel. The chapter starts by describing the surgery that removed a man later to be known as H.M. from his memory. It continues with a brief discussion of Brenda Milner and her studies of H.M. that lead to the realization that there are two forms of memory: procedural and unconscious. Only then does the discussion turn to Eric Kandel and his experiment. The experiments he does allow the average human to somewhat understand how memory works and how memories are created.To this day, Kandel is still trying to help people regain their memories, even whole countries. There always has to be a slight deviation to the author's own life. It is interesting to note that H.M. is still living in an area of Boston near MIT, but not even remotely relevant to the rest of this chapter. Anyway, it is very interesting to know where memories come from and how they are created. Maybe one day we will develop a way to allow humans to have better memories without all of the currently plausible side effects.
Chapter 10: Chipped:
This Century's Most Radical Mind Cures:
Surgery of the brain: psychosurgery. Medicine for the brain: psychopharmacy. But we really don't know what either of these things are or what they do. Someday, we might but right now we don't. The brain is an incredibly complex thing. It is readily apparent that despite the advances made in psychology, there is no set medical way to fix any of these problems. Surgery is seen as the option of last resort, understandable since removal of one's brain is a big thing.The patient known as Charlie has clearly tried to do his best to get better. A large part of me wonders if we will ever know exactly what these brain surgeries are doing to the patient, and a much smaller part thinks we will know in just a few years. In the long run though, this chapter has helped me realize that I never, ever want to experience a mental problem. The ways of treating these problems are in no way set in stone.
