Reading: Skinner 9 & 10

Memory Inc. reads like a tragedy, but the results of Scoville's experiments are amazing, as is the current work being done by Memory Pharmaceuticals. By chance, Scoville discovered that the hippocampus is vital to the acquisition of new memories when he psychologically maimed a patient to cure his epilepsy.  Since then, a great deal of research on the biological basis of memory has been conducted, and much has been learned. Currently, a company called Memory Pharmaceuticals is working on a drug that will enhance synapses in the brain to fortify and restore memories. The ethical, evolutional, and societal implications of such a drug are mind-boggling, but the possibility of such a drug even existing is amazing.

Chipped is the tale of Moniz, a horrible, ambitious man that ran around poking holes in people's brains to see what would happen. He's the father of psychosurgery, a practice outlawed in several countries and a few states. The present-day incarnation of psychosurgery is psycholpharmocology, whereby psychological disorders are treated with chemicals to alleviate their suffering. Both of these practices, despite their successes are very crude and lacking in specificity, and therefore, lacking in scientific evidence. The drugs we take and give to our children such as Zoloft, Prozac, Aderall, Ritalin, etc affect the brain in completely unknown ways. There has been little to no research done on the long-term effects of these medications, both physiological and psychological.

Reading: Skinner 7 & 8

Rat Park was an experiment conducted by one of Harlow's students, Alexander. These experiments studied the nature of addiction and challenged the long-held belief that substances such as morphine and heroin are innately addictive and irresistible. Alexander questioned this based on his own observations and conducted Rat Park to find the truth. Amazingly, rats not only avoid mind-altering drugs when in social situations but will even avoid these drugs after being forcibly "addicted". This led to the rise of the view of addiction in which drugs are used as a coping mechanism, a view that I personally agree with based on my observations.

Lost in the Mall echoed many things I've learned in previous classes, but was no less disturbing to read than it always is. Personally, I can't help but wonder who I'd be without my memories and experiences, and to think that the building-blocks of my personality could be fabricated so easily is troubling. I imagine that the constant bleeding of memory and imagination that occurs within our minds is a huge contributing factor to the amazing ideas and inventions that humans are capable of, but at what cost? I think that the average person is better off the way they are, faulty memory and all. The real problems occur when unethical people leverage this weakness in cognition to brainwash people and convince them of lies.

Reading: Skinner 5 & 6

Chapter 5 covered Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, a theory still held by many cognitive psychologists today. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person's internal beliefs and predispositions are placed in opposition to their external observations and influences. An example of this would be a person, Bob, witnessing another man walking on water. If Bob is Christian or otherwise believes in miracles, this is a completely "normal" observation. However, if Bob is a man of science, seeing such an event causes a state of tension (dissonance) which drives him to formulate some kind of explanation for this event that fits his way of thinking. Perhaps the water is shallow, or maybe the man is using some new kind of technology. Cognitive dissonance explains why people NEED to rationalize their actions. The most interesting thing that I take away from this chapter is the Insufficient Rewards Paradigm, which reveals that changing a person's thinking is as easy as giving them a dollar to do something they don't really believe in, and then questioning their reasoning.

Chapter 6 was brutal. It discussed Harlow's experiments with monkeys which led to some interesting discoveries at an extreme cost. Harlow used monkeys to study the nature of nurture (lol) and did so by placing infant monkeys in traumatic conditions, subjecting them to torture, and constructing devices like the "Rape Rack" and the "Well of Despair". The results made significant contributions to child psychology and got Harlow elected president of the American Psychological Association, but at what cost? Harlow's actions spurred the animal rights movement into questioning the ethics of using animals to further science. I, personally, find Harlow's treatment of his monkeys appalling and I am convinced that he must have been disturbed in some way, however, I am grateful for the advances in medicine that have been made possible through animal trials. Although I could never conduct animal research myself, I do think that it is necessary  but within strict bounds and under ethical scrutiny. What Harlow did was way outside the line.

Reading: Skinner 3 & 4

Chapter 3 focused on Rosenhan's experiment involving psychiatric diagnoses. Rosenhan felt that people were often institutionalized for much longer periods of time than appropriate based on his theory that once you attach a diagnosis to a patient, all that patient's actions are then interpreted with a bias. He conducted an experiment in which he and 8 confederates went to separate psychiatric institutions claiming to hear a "thud" and see how the institutions responded. They were instructed to behave normally, other than the "thud", and to claim to be cured once institutionalized. The results were disappointing and revealed several flaws in the methods of psychiatric care. Even today, psychiatry is considered a "soft-science" and riddled with pop-psychiatrists.

Chapter 4's topic was the infamous Genovese case. This case is discussed in many books due to the uncomfortable reality that it shed's light on. Genovese was murdered, slowly over the course of 35 minutes, screaming for help and drawing the attention of 38 witnesses. Despite all of this, nobody called the police until long after Genovese was dead. This drew a torrent of media attention and prompted Darley and Latane to conduct a series of experiments that revealed several interesting facts. Most notable was the phenomenon of responsibility diffusion, whereby the number of people witnessing an event drastically decreases the likelihood that someone will intervene, because nobody feels directly responsible enough to act.

Reading: Skinner 1 & 2

I'm not a fan of Slater's writing. The topic of the book is Skinner, which is a great subject, but her introduction seems way over dramatized. Skinner was a behavioral psychologist that expanded upon Pavlov's theories of classical conditioning with a new theory - operant conditioning. Operant conditioning changed the way psychologists thought and led psychology toward becoming a more respectable field, one of science instead of philosophy. Slater's portrayal of the facts is accurate(-ish) but her anecdotal additions damage her credibility and the readability of the book.

Obedience to Authority

Chapter Remarks

1. The book begins by discussing the nature of obedience. This chapter serves as a good preface for the topics that follow.
2. This chapter outlines the initial experiment in detail. Pictures are provided to illustrate the various apparatus and to give the reader a glimpse at the learner, which really aids in visualizing the experiments.
3. This is a short chapter that takes a look at different populations predictions of the experiment's outcome. All participants expected the experiment to end around 150V and estimated that less than 1% of people (sociopaths) would continue to 450V.
4. This chapter discusses experiments exploring the effect that the closeness of the victim has on disobedience. Unsurprisingly, the closer the teacher is to the learner to more likely they are to disobey. When the teacher has to physically force the learner to be shocked, obedience drops to 30%.
5. This chapter discusses the results and experiences of a selection of participants from the first 3 experiments (focusing of proximity). The tension experienced by some of the participants was extremely evident. I'm glad that Milgram addressed the specific experiences of a few dissenters to round out the discussion.
6. After experimenting with proximity, another series of experiments were conducted focusing on the learner's reaction to the shocks, the teacher's relationship to the authority, and the location of the experiment. The results were interesting, most notable was that teachers, when given the opportunity to choose what level of shock to administer, consistently chose very low levels.
7. This chapter discusses individual experiences in experiments 5-11. Much like in chapter 5, this chapter serves to help the reader visualize the experiments. The anecdotal evidence also makes the book more interesting and sets it apart from a research paper.
8. This chapter discusses experiments that vary the position of the authority in relation to the teacher and other authorities. This chapter provided a lot of the insight Milgram uses in his later discussions.
9. The final experiments place the participant in a group of teachers. These experiments revealed that disobedience is easier when the teacher can follow another's lead and that participants have no problem being silently complicit in another teachers abuse of the learner.
10. This chapter begins Milgram's academic and theoretic discussions on obedience. This chapter addresses the nature of hierarchy and the agentic shift in thinking that the teachers experienced during the experiments.
11. This chapter discusses how people learn obedience early on and how society reinforces this by integrating people into hierarchies via promotions, rewards, and punishment. He also further elaborates on his agentic state and it's properties.
12. This chapter is titled strain and disobedience. It discusses how some participants were able to overcome their agentic state and assert their individuality, through great psychic struggle. It also discusses coping mechanisms such as avoidance, denial, and subterfuge.
13. In this chapter Milgram introduces and argues against an alternative theory built on aggression. This theory stands on Freudian principles and is refuted by several experiments.
14. This chapter addresses criticisms of Milgram's experiments and theories. His defense is clearly composed and built on evidence from his experiments and others. Personally, I agree with Milgram's analysis and thing that his reasoning is sound.
15. This chapter draws the book to a close by refocusing on Nazi Germany and how people behave in the real world. The interview with the veteran that participated in the execution of innocent people during Vietnam was troubling and ended the book on a strong note.

Book Reflection

I enjoyed reading this book quite a bit. I was pleased to find that it was much more than a recap of the infamous Milgram experiments, which I've been familiar with for some time.

The first two thirds of the book discuss the initial experiment and the follow-up experiments that it inspired in great detail. The initial experiment revealed that people are willing to obey an authority to an alarming extent. Even past the point that they would be comfortable operating of their own free will. Predictions made by professors, students, and psychologists all suggest that the average person would only cooperate to a small extent, and that only a sociopath would be willing to subject another human to 450V for the purpose of scientific experimentation.

Obviously results this unexpected, not to mention concerning, warranted further investigation. Milgram's first round of follow-up experiments focused on the relationship between the proximity of the teacher to the "victim" and the teacher's obedience to the authority. These experiments revealed that moving the victim closer to the teacher, therefore making the teacher's actions more explicit and more subject to their personal scrutiny. The other experiments that followed revealed that women are as obedient as men, that the reputability of the locale contributes to the power of the authority, that conflicting authorities undermine obedience, that participants are more obedient when they don't feel responsible for their actions, and various other findings.

The real contribution Milgram made by writing this book was his discussion of the theories he formed from these results, in the last third of the book. Milgram's theories center around his idea of the agentic state. Milgram proposes that people can function independently or as a part of a hierarchy, the later referred to as the agentic state. He asserts that this functioning is an entirely separate state of mind based on the way participants behave in contrast to their individual ideals and preferences.

Overall, Milgram's experiments were well conducted and his theories well formed. I agree with his analysis and enjoyed reading his book.

Gang Leader for a Day

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The first chapter provides a good introduction to the book and captures the reader's attention very well. The author's portrayal of the characters makes it easy to keep in mind the fact that they represent real people. Chapter two chronicles the early days of his study. Reading the author's accounts of the projects contradicted a lot of what I previously assumed was true and supplied one revelation after another. The incident with C-Note was a sobering moment and a good reminder of the reality and consequences of the study. Chapter 3 provided insights into the roles of other community members and marked a shift in the focus of the study. Previously Sudhir focused almost exclusively on the Black Kings and their leader. Chapter 3 also introduced the idea that there might be something more to gang life than simple drug dealing by focusing on the Black King's and Lenny's voting movement. Chapter 4 was very enlightening, as it should be given that it became the book's namesake. A day in the life of a gang leader is a very interesting topic in its own right and I found this chapter incredibly interesting. Chapter 5's shift to Ms. Bailey was fascinating. The constant struggle for power between Bailey and JT was an entertaining read and was very thought provoking. Chapter 6 really drove in the fact that Sudhir's involvement has had consequences for not only himself  but many of the people in Robert Taylor. This chapter was another sobering moment and one of the defining features of the book.  I found chapter 7 distressing. Like Sudhir, growing up the way I did gave me a romanticized notion of police. This chapter was a very disenchanting experience. The last chapter was pretty dull. It read like an epilogue and was pretty anticlimactic, but I suppose that is the nature of research.