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Walden Two WALDEN TWO REACTION PAPER Walden Two introduces us to the concepts of positive punishment, classical conditioning, and shaping through the utopian community
Walden Two Walden Two: The Psychology of "No Place" In a post-World War Two era, there was much longing for improvement on current society. Burrhus F. Skinner decided
Walden Two Book Title: Walden Two Author: B.F. Skinner Pages: 301 I. SETTING: A. Time: mid 1940's (after the end of WWII) B. Place: Walden Two, R.D. I, Canton C.
Walden When a man is able to live his philosophy, it becomes more than a theoretical construction of his mind. It becomes his attitude and his way of having experience.
walden two Nate Edwards 11-22-04 Period 1 Walden Two In B.F. Skinner's Walden Two, Skinner presents many positive changes to society in his utopia, such as: division
Submitted by ClippersBoi21 on March 6, 2008
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Walden Two:
The Psychology of "No Place"
In a post-World War Two era, there was much longing for improvement on current society. Burrhus F. Skinner decided to give his take on what he felt were the appropriate steps to take in order to make a true "Utopia." There have been attempts at other utopia's (which is from the Greek for "no place") and Skinner in his book took the best elements of each utopia and put them into one. However, this does not mean that this utopia he creates in his story, called Walden Two, emulating Thoreau's Walden Pond in Maine, is not without flaws. The most obvious flaws that stand out to the modern day reader are simply due to the fact that this book was published nearly 60 years ago. Values in the post-WWII era differed from modern ones, and psychology took a back seat during the war for other "real sciences." This social commentary is extensively relevant to the study of psychology, especially conditioning/behaviorism, because all consequences of all the actions of people in Walden Two directly stem from some psychological event, be it the shaping of the children to want to learn, or the way the officials (planners/managers) are appointed (and not elected).
The interesting thing about this book is the way in which it is written. The main protagonist's name is Burris, awfully close to the author and psychologist's name Burrhus, and they share nearly identical lives and professions. I believe this book basically breaks down B.F. Skinner's feelings about creating utopia's into the characters. Burris would be closest to B.F. Skinner himself, with Skinner's moderate point of view being exemplified in this character, his extremely in favor feeling exemplified in Frazier's character, and his extremely against/skeptical feeling exemplified in Augustine Castle.
In order to understand why in fact "Walden Two" is a commentary on American society, we must juxtapose relevant topics in our lives compared to...
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