Walden Two. BF Skinner

Walden Two
BF Skinner
London: the Macmillan Company
1948

Why read it? The message of the book: organize society using positive reinforcement. I've read the book, but I still do not understand entirely what 'positive reinforcement' means in a practical way. Frazier, the founder of Walden Two, does give examples, but I'm not sure they are very significant. One thing it does mean: don't use punishment or negative reinforcement. How would I translate a situation in which I instinctively wanted to use negative reinforcement into positive reinforcement? I've done it in small ways with the dogs. But what about people?

Frazier, the founder of Walden Two is very good at describing what is wrong with society. Much of what he describes is full of half-truths, but they are half true as well as being half wrong: part of the problem is true.

The book consists of a debate in which Frazier responds to the cynical attacks by Castle, a visitor at Walden Two, to the cynical attacks by Castle on Frazier's system of human engineering called positive reinforcement. And since Skinner, the author, believes in positive reinforcement, he embarrasses Castle by using common sense in his responses.

The book has given me much to think about. I need to think about how I could have turned negative reinforcement into positive reinforcement in raising our kids, in relations with my wife and others and in my professional career. If I had even thought about transforming negative reinforcement into positive reinforcement, I am convinced that my life would have been happier.

Some of the principles of Walden Two: move from competition to cooperation. Eliminate competition. Eliminate honors for those who perform special tasks. Everybody performs valued tasks The problem with special honors is that those who are not honored, including those who contributed to the achievement, do not get the credit they deserve.

Some sample ideas from the book:

Death: "When I die...I shall cease to exist--in every sense of the word.... As a personal figure, I shall be as unidentifiable as my ashes. " Education: The fixed education represented by a diploma is a bit of conspicuous waste which has no place in Walden Two. We don't attach an economic or honorific value to education. It has its own value or none at all. " Heaven: "Could you really be happy in a static world, no matter how satisfying it might be in other respects? .... We must never be free of that feverish urge to push forward which is the saving grace of mankind."

Honors: "Our people are constantly making contributions to the health, leisure, happiness, comfort and amusement of the community. But to single anyone out for citation would be to neglect all the others. Gratitude itself isn't wrong. It's the ingratitude or lack of gratitude which it involves." Human nature. "I have none at all [faith in human nature]...if you mean that men are naturally good or naturally prepared to get along with each other. We have no truck with philosophies of innate goodness--or evil, either, for that matter. But we do have faith in our power to change human behavior. We can make men adequate for group living--to the satisfaction of everybody." Life: "Each of us has interests which conflict with the interests of everybody else. That's our original sin."

Persuasion: "We're using the only technique of conquest which has ever given permanent results: we set an example." Positive reinforcement: "They are doing what they want to do, not what they are forced to do. That's the source of the tremendous power of positive reinforcement--there's no restraint and no revolt. We control not the final behavior, but the inclination to behave--the motive, the desires, the wishes." "Society couldn't use positive reinforcement for sheep because it doesn't raise sheep for the sake of the sheep."

Quote: "We have no need for fortunes, and until you can show me how a fortune can be made without making a few paupers in the bargain, it's one goal we're glad to do without."

Quote: "Reduce compulsive labor to a minimum by arranging the kinds of incentives under which people enjoy working."

Quote: "Five of these [principles] are to be found as well in Walden (One) by Henry David Thoreau: (1) No way of life is inevitable.... (2) If you do not like it, change it. (3) But do not try to change it through political action. Even if you succeed in gaining power, you will not be able to use it any more wisely than your predecessors. [Defines politics as competition for power.] (4) Ask only to be left alone to solve your own problems in your own way. (5) Simplify your needs. Learn how to be happy with fewer possessions."