Walden Two Analysis

Chapter 1 of Opening Skinners Box portrays the life and experiments of one B.F. Skinner. The way this one man researched and spent so many years of his life dedicated to his findings is not only crazy and committed, but encouraging, motivational, and stimulating. Skinner was a neo-behaviorist well-known and notorious for his findings about the behavior animals have when using positive reinforcement and what you can teach them to do with these findings.

1. “For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, where it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” P.383 What is the “it” that Thoreau is referring to when he says people are in a strange uncertainty about “it” AND what does the rest of the quote in mean?

B.F Skinner was an American Psychologist who invented the operant conditioning chamber. The chamber he set up had rats in it and a lever, once the rats pulled the lever they were given a piece of food. After this happened the rate of bar pressing would increase dramatically and remain high until the rat was no longer hungry. He was a firm believer of the idea that human free will was actually an illusion and any human

The excerpt Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, is a piece that explores the purpose of life, especially if it isn 't lived to the fullest. Thoreau starts by sharing the meaning and value of life. His idea of his personal achievement was to live life and die with a sense of peace and knowledge that he did not waste a single moment. He wanted to live life while being true to himself regardless of whether he would find life to be cruel or a wonderful place, and this was a risk he was willing to take. In a modern sense we are intrigued by technology. Although those in favor of technology may say that the new devices and applications do not affect human interaction and our way of living we are, are unable to see that, even in a room filled with people, there is an isolation barrier and an inability to live life to the fullest.

Pursuing something new is fun and exciting, especially if the pursuit positively impacts someone else. I am grateful for the opportunity to re-enter grad school, this time at the doctorate level, to realize a dream that I’ve had since the

You may be dead now, but you left a huge impact on the world and on the lives of high school and college students reading your essay Walden, for school. You spent two years at Walden Pond. Why you spent exactly that much time, why you got away from society, why you lived in a small house, will be cryptic to us. You say that this lifestyle was to avoid materialism and find yourself in nature to achieve transcendence. And, this was true in your large essay, for the most part. I began to learn from your writings (Walden, Civil disobedience), however confusing and metaphorical they are. I respect you and what you have taught society. But, you always contradict yourself. Also, I want to tell you know that in your essay of Walden you said that ‘’As you simplify live your life, the laws of the universe will be simple; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness will be weakness.’’ I agree with you but considering that in the light of these modern days it is almost impossible to keep up with simplicity even though I know that to keep up with simplicity is a good thing. like I said, it is almost impossible for our generation to live without technology, without light, and without any facilities because in today’s modern world technology is one of the most important parts of each of the individual lives. Technology is like our soul, and we (the people) can’t live

Henry Thoreau’s masterpiece, Walden or a Life in the Woods, shows the impact transcendentalism had on Thoreau’s worldview. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual over the material. Transcendentalism puts the emphasis on spiritual growth and understanding as opposed to worldly pleasures. Thoreau’s idea of transcendentalism stressed the importance of nature and being close to nature. He believed that nature was a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. A walk in the woods therefore was a search for spiritual enlightenment. One should look ‘through’ nature, not merely ‘at’ her.

Frazier replies that a great deal of time is wasted in the outside world: the second half of an eight-hour day is less productive than the first; people work less well when they are working for a boss than when they are working for themselves; many people who could work are unemployed; and many of the people who are working are doing so in capacities that are not needed at the society of Walden Two, such as banking, advertising, etc. Furthermore, women can do work that helps the community since their domestic duties are reduced or nonexistent. The members of the society of Walden Two also consume less than members of the outside world. Castle agrees that Frazier has made his

Two works by the same author will often have very similar characteristics. The Black Cat and the Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is a perfect example of this. Both of the works have very similar aspects such as characters, tone, and mood. Tone and mood are expressed strongly throughout both of the short stories, this creates a very dark feeling which is distinct in both of the short stories. Characters also plays a very important part of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. Many of the characters that Edgar Allan Poe portrays are dark, mysterious, and deranged.

B. F. Skinner’s novel, Walden Two, tells a story about a group of Americans discovering a way to escape from a broken world in a utopian society. The community, called Walden Two, unifies its members through strict policies and positive reinforcement. Even though outsiders find these policies strange, those who live in Walden are thankful for the happiness they experience. In his work, Skinner teaches his readers about behavioral engineering and how utopian communities would not be “perfect” without it.

Conditioning and hypnopaedic lessons, being one of the very important controls, are procedures that all babies are required to be put through in their premature years. The conditioning of minds allows the government to impress its ideas upon the maturing children. It causes them to love their own caste and acknowledge the presence of other castes. Tomakin, the Director of the Hatchery Centre, explains, “They’ll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an instinctive hatred of books and flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They’ll be safe from books and botany all their lives (Huxley 30).” The process includes the electrifying of babies and the alarming sound of a bell as they approach the books and the flowers. This causes them to be conditioned to hate books and flowers. Being able to read, become intelligent, admire the beauty of nature, or vice versa should not be the choice of the state. Conditioning limits the citizens from experiencing the enjoyment of sports, hobbies, entertainment, and talents. With the restriction of true exposure to open interests and activities, the citizens are experiencing simulated happiness.

Before the discovery of Uranus there was thought to only be seven heavenly bodies, the Sun, the moon, and five planets. It was common knowledge at the time that they were the only other objects in the Solar System and there would be no others. It changed in 1781 when William Herschel discovered a new object, which later became known as Uranus. (Teerikorni, 111) This all began in 1773 when Herschel started grinding his own lenses and even mounting a mirror with a five and a half foot focal length. He continued in 1776 with larger telescopes. “In July he added a 20ft, and telescopes of 7, 10 and 20 feet becames his common working instruments for some years to come.” (Bennet, 75-76) All of this tinkering eventually led to the discovery of a new

In chapter 1, Opening Skinner’s Box, Slater talks about a psychologist named B. F. Skinner. Skinner shows us how easily operant conditioning can be done. He believed that you have a better outcome if you study observable behavior instead of studying mental events. Skinner’s work focused on operant conditioning. People and animals were the subjects of his studies.

Skinner’s theory observes individuals from the point of view of the behavior that they demonstrate. The key weakness of this theory is its attempt to explain the behaviors of an individual solely through visible phenomena. Critics sometimes accuse behaviorists of denying that ideas and thoughts exist (Jensen & Burgess, 1997). The major opposition that behaviorists face is that behavior of a person cannot be understood without including the mental activity of the individual. Critics have accused behaviorists of focusing only on behavior and ignoring the role of physiology, neuroscience, and genetics (Weiss & Rosales-Ruiz, 2014). Sometimes the reactions that people demonstrate have are not related their experience and therefore they have another

Thereby, Skinner produced experiments whereby rats would navigate through mazes to achieve the goal of a box containing food. His interest was the behaviour of the rat, taking the right turn to achieve the desired result, food. To begin with the rats would take the wrong turn but with experience, they became more skilful. The rats learning behaviour was measured in two ways, firstly the length of time it took from start to end and secondly, the reduction in errors. This was a lengthy experiment which led Skinner to produce ‘the Skinner box’. Whereby, rats learnt to press a lever and pigeons learnt to peck a key in order to attain food, also known as behaviour shaping. This experiment lacks ecological validity as the animals are kept in a controlled environment which is dissimilar to their natural habitat. However, the results which were attained could not have been possible in natural circumstances. Skinner wanted to observe if behaviour could be learned through reaching a desired outcome such as positive reinforcement which needed to be