Monday, January 31, 2011

Book Reading #7: Opening Skinner's Box Microblog

Reference Information
   Title: Opening Skinner's Box
   Author: Lauren Slater
   Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company (2008)

Chapter 1: Opening Skinner's Box (26 Pages)
Summary
This chapter is mainly focused on B.F. Skinner and his work. It also discusses some of the impacts his research had on other works and what he extrapolated from his data. Skinner was heavily influenced by Pavlov. Pavlov was able to condition a reflex; Skinner wanted to take it a step further. He was able to do things like teach a rat to press a lever to receive food and teach a pig to vacuum. From his studies, he came to a conclusion that there is no such thing as "free will". We operant on cues and conditioning. The professor she talks to about this is very upset and fiercely disagrees.

Discussion
I'm intrigued to read more about B.F. Skinner. I find his work to be quite interesting. I have a dog so i'm well aware of what "conditioning" is. I'm wondering why we are reading this for CHI. What ways are humans conditioned in respect to using computers? Are things like slot machines a form of operant conditioning?

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