Test001 Essay Research Paper Walden Two by

Test001 Essay, Research Paper

Walden Two, by B.F. Skinner was published by the Macmillan Company in 1948 is a spinoff of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. It is an expansion of the creation of a Utopian society. The society is the creation of T.E. Frazier and is run under his guidance. The story starts with Professor Burris being prompted by one of his prior students to find some information on the existence of Walden Two. The gentleman are asked to visit Walden Two and travel as a group of six. Joining Burris and Rogers, the student, areSteve, a friend of Rogers from the war, Rogers and Steve’s girlfriends, and Castle, a fellow professor. During their visit to the society, questions are raised about the legitimacy of the group. After living as a member of the society for several days, Steve and his girlfriend, along with Professor Burris decide to become members of the society. Walden Two is the story of the creation of an ideal society that meets the needs of its members through behavioral engineering and the use of other psychological methods.

Skinner constantly refers to the field of psychology for the basis of his book. He maintains that by engineering youth through psychological techniques that the bad parts of human nature can be removed and create a better society. Parts of human behavior such as jealousy and hatred are negative aspects of a non-conditioned society. The main focus is on the use of behavioral engineering through conditioned reflexes and experimental theories. Burris does a case study with one of the elderly women of the society to gain knowledge that is unbiased about the society. One theory is gradual deconditioning of the negatives from human behavior. The book also presents a view on the way society should run. For example, there is no advancement for one person and no personal gain in the way of money. Through the training the members receive as a child, they feel no need for praise and reward for duties that help the community. He mentions that the society has created a psychological effect where the members want to do work. Also the perfect society has trained youth to lack jealous behavior and anger. Scientifically, the material presented has some viability, but it seems improbable to mix the people of the old way with the newly trained generation. Several times, Frazier mentions the use of conditioning to reduce a child’s probability to perform a negative action. Frazier even mentions the possibility of experimental breeding being introduced into the society. There is the problem of inbreeding in the society with the experimenting in breeding. Skinner also portrays through the characters his belief that church is psychology and that government is based on the science of human behavior. Finally, Skinner writes that freedom is psychological. Through all the seemingly realistic situations, Skinner’s perfect society is scientific, but hardly plausible in an advanced society.

Skinner supports his ideas about the perfect society through the use of examples. The examples are hypothetical, but they are still examples. Each chapter contains a defense of his ideas. The skeptic professor Burris represents Skinner and his friend Castle is constantly providing arguments for Frazier to defend his society.

The society at Walden Two has a strong program for the development and growth of the children into the society. To keep the society running, the children must be experimentally taught through conditioning in learning the necessary techniques to generate a society running on the exact principles of Walden Two. His society is “a culture which is under experimental control.”(242) He provides the actions of the children in the nursery as a backing for the effectiveness of the conditioning at an early age. There is no true scientific base for the information given, but only hypothetical proof. His children were missing several traits found in the youth of today’s society. For example, the children lacked traits such as jealousy and anger. Through operant conditioning, Frazier weaned the bad habits by using negative reinforcement with the children. The children were gradually introduced to discouragement little by little, building a tolerance that would prevent rage.(101) By conditioning babies to be perserverant, the society lacked what could be seen as detrimental competition. The next step to having a perfect society that started with children was a “weakening of the family structure that will make experimental breeding possible.”(113) To weaken the family structure, the neonatal is placed in a “cubicle” and is cared for with genuine affection.(119) While the neonates are being slowly conditioned into the society, the elder founders of the society must accept the new way of life. As Frazier pointed out to the group, the transition between generations will be a tough one because nobody knows what will happen. The future leaders were raised to be equal and do not have the skills to effectively lead the society. There is no guarantee that a leader will emerge from the future generation because the children were raised not to be competitive. This results in nobody wanting to be in control. As the children matured, the society accommodated them, but did not treat them differently. In the society, all children were equal and could do as they wished so long as they followed the guidelines of Walden Two. Along with the equality offered to children, th