Skinner's dark year and Walden Two..

Abstract

B. F. Skinner's basic assumptions about human behavior are described most vividly in his Utopian novel Walden Two. Though offered simply as a fictional application of radical behaviorism to the design of society, Walden Two possessed strong emotional connotations for Skinner, The "Dark Year," a period during his youth when he failed as a creative writer, displayed many earmarks of a major identity crisis. Walden Two was written during a period of mid-life crisis when identity issues again became highly salient for Skinner. The novel incorporated issues from both periods into its picture of an ideal society and helped Skinner to resolve his developmental conflicts. He emerged with a restructured identity as public advocate for a behavioristic science of human conduct, A theorist's life history and personality characteristics surely influence his or her choice of theoretical model in any field (cf. Coser, 1977;Feuer, 1974;Tomkins, 1963). But such influences are likely to be particularly salient in the development of personality theories. The personality theorist experiences certain aspects of personality most vivdly within his or her own person. Even the most conscientious theorists, who take extraordinary care to seek evidence from a wide variety of external sources, may still find it hard to accept conclusions about personality that appear strongly at variance with their own personal experience. Thus, a fuller understanding of the strengths and limitations of specific personality theories may come not only from detailed study of theory-derived hypotheses but also from increased knowledge of the personal context out of which the theories developed. Such research on the subjective origins of personality theories (and of psychological theories in general) has only recently begun to receive systematic attention, under the titles of "the psychology of psychology" (Coan, 1973) or "the psychology of knowledge" (Atwood & Tomkins, 1976).The subjective origins of subjectively oriented personality theories are often clearly demonstrable.

Bibliographic processes and products, and a bibliography of the published primary-source works of B. F. Skinner

“…The process and products of qualitative researchfor instance, descriptions, reviews, narratives, and interpretations-are, most commonly, historical, biographical, and conceptual in nature. With respect to Skinner, a comprehensive bibliography might aid further research into his life (e.g., Bjork, 1993) and career (e.g., Elms, 1981), aspects or periods of both (e.g., Smith & Woodward, 1996), and categories thereof (e.g., Skinner in the popular press; see Rutherford, 2000Rutherford, , 2003. Such research might also further illuminate his science of behavior (e.g., its methods, apparatus; see, e.g., Coleman, 1996), applied innovations (e.g., programmed instruction; see Vargas & Vargas, 1996), conceptual analyses (e.g., verbal behavior; see, e.g., Coleman, 1985), and contributions in various content domains (e.g., educational psychology; see Morris, 2003).…”

The History of Behavior Analysis: Some Historiography and a Bibliography

“…It is usually written by professional historians outside of a particular discipline, many of whom will even question a discipline's fundamental assumptions, practices, and principles (see Furumoto, 1989). Indeed, these historians may not even be neutral in perspective, but work from specific theoretical orientations (e.g., Marxist, psychoanalytic, or social constructionist; see, Elms, 1981, on a psychodynamic interpretation of Skinner's writing Walden Two; Skinner, 1948). At the very least, extemalist history begins with the premise that science does not develop inde-pendently of the personal characteristics ofa discipline's members (e.g., their ambitions and agendas) or of its cultural, intellectual, social, political, and economic contexts.…”

Desconhecimento e liberdade no caminho de uma nova ciência do comportamento

“…O período entre o final de sua graduação e a decisão pelo ingresso no doutorado em psicologia de Harvard, no decorrer de 1927, foi descrito por ele como seu pior ano (dark year) (cf. Elms, 1981;Skinner, 1984a). Fase essa em que, após a tentativa frustrada de tornar-se escritor e sua decorrente insurreição contra a literatura, Skinner elegeu a psicologia como a área do conhecimento na qual daria continuidade a sua formação acadêmica.…”

“…Bjork, 2006;Elms, 1981;Moore, 2005aMoore, , 2005bMoore, , 2005cSkinner, 1979Skinner, , 1984a. Para os propósitos do presente artigo, a respeito do período que antecede a decisão de Skinner, ocorrida entre o final de 1926 e outubro de 1927, destaca-se o seu baixo grau de conhecimento sobre a psicologia.…”