Punished by Rewards LO14004

John Zavacki (jzavacki@wolff.com)
Thu, 19 Jun 1997 18:11:54 -0400

Replying to LO13973 --

Roxanne, in a noble effort to get a complex issue into dialogue makes this
statement:

> Kohn details the history and effect of Skinnerian
> behaviorism on our schools, businesses and child-rearing techniques and
> debunks Skinner's assumption that humans should be treated as lab rats.
> He points out that the basis of "do this and you'll get that" is control
> and manipulation.

Caveat 1: I am, by education a cognitive, not a behavioral psychologist
Caveat 2: I find Walden II the most interesting of Skinner's work
Caveat 3: I also like Ayn Rand when I was 19

I would appreciate an understanding here: Skinner is not responsible for
capitalism and it's "carrot and stick" mentality. He studied behavior.
His work explained many lower level cognitive functions. He was not a
proponent of "carrot and stick" schema in complex organizational behavior.
That said, we have intrinsica and extrinsica to discuss. Who among you
will toss the first carrot?

-- 

jzavacki@wolff.com John Zavacki The Wolff Group 800-282-1218 http://www.wolff.com/

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>