Monday, 17 December 2012
Robert Sapolsky and B.F. Skinner Discuss Behaviorism
This is an interesting video up on YouTube at the moment where the uploader has spliced together snippets from one of Sapolsky's lectures with various snippets of Skinner discussing similar topics or claims as those raised by Sapolsky. The brilliance in this is the seamless juxtaposition of contradictory claims being raised on the same topic - behaviorism.
The video isn't too long and I think it does a great job of highlighting some of the character of Skinner as well, rather than presenting the dry, matter-of-fact scientist that is often seen only discussing reinforcement schedules and pigeons.
Enjoy!
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Quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis video reinforce even more the idea, stated over and over by psychologists like Peter Harzem, of reading direclty from the source.
Sapolsky results in the best example of misleading discurse and it doesn't look like he just misundertood behaviorism.
Hi Jorge,
DeleteThanks for the comment. I agree that reading from the source is vitally important - especially when, like Sapolsky, you're trying to educate young people who are new to a particular subject.
I guess it's possible that he was intentionally presenting misleading information but in situations like this I like to apply Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". And given how misunderstood behaviorism is, even by psychology professors, it doesn't seem impossible that biologists like Sapolsky could be unaware of the true facts.
Sapolsky, like Pinker, is a troubled, arrogant,angry man, who can't stand being refuted. Like Pinker, he has beef with Skinner, who is the authority on the science of human behavior. Like many other popular academics, Sapolsky misunderstands Skinner because it sells. No matter how much hot air this pedantic windbag produces, he misses scientific rigor in his own behavior.
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