Word: skinnerism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Utopian ventures of the early and mid-19th century?from Indiana's New Harmony on the Wabash River to Massachusetts' famed Brook Farm?eventually foundered, and Twin Oaks, too, has its problems. The major one appears to be financial. "Skinner never wrote about a poor community," laments Gabe Sinclair. "He wrote about a rich one." After starting with only $35,000, Twin Oaks, four years later, still finds survival a struggle. The farm brings more emotional than monetary rewards; members would find it cheaper to work at other jobs and buy their food at the market. The community's chief...
...when Deborah Skinner was eleven months old, she had a rather dubious distinction: she was the most talked-about infant in America?the famous "baby in a box." The box, or "air crib" as her father called it, was his own invention, a glassed-in, insulated, air-controlled crib that he thought would revolutionize child rearing and, in line with his behaviorist theories, produce happier, healthier children...
...major practical problems in raising a young baby, Skinner reasoned, is the simple one of keeping it warm. The infant is usually covered by half a dozen layers of cloth?shirt, nightdress, sheet and blankets?that not only constrict movement and cause rashes, but sometimes even pose the danger of strangulation. Then there is the mother's labor in dressing and undressing the child, plus the considerable expense of buying and laundering all those clothes and blankets...
...eliminate those troubles, Skinner designed Deborah's crib with temperature and humidity controls so that she could be warm and naked at the same time. Besides the hoped-for results?Deborah never suffered from a rash, for instance?the crib provided an unexpected fringe benefit: the Skinners discovered that the baby was so sensitive to even the slightest change in temperature that she could be made happy simply by moving the thermostat a notch or two. "We wonder how a comfortable temperature is ever reached with clothing and blankets," Skinner wrote in a 1945 issue of Ladies' Home Journal. "During...
...Skinner was sensitive to criticism that Deborah was isolated. In his articles and lectures, he took pains to stress that she could watch everything that was taking place in the room about her, and that she was frequently taken out for cuddling and play. To many people, however, the air box sounded and looked like an atrocious human goldfish bowl...