The Santo Family

     As I read each chapter in Opening Skinner's Box I was shocked. I was overwhelmed with just how interested I was and how violent, yet successful many of the experiments were. None of the chapters took me aback more, though, than Quieting the Mind. Just the story of Audrey Santo was unbelievable. So much so that I had a lot of trouble believing any of it. Audrey had almost drown when she was four, leaving her brain dead and stuck on life support. However, her mother kept her alive and surrounded her with figurines of holy people. 
     These figurines began bleeding and oozing oil. It was soon found that the oil had healing principles; it could heal cuts and scrapes on contact.This oil was tested, though it could not be determined just what kind it was. People began coming to the Santo house to see Audrey. It was then realized that she could heal any disease if asked. There were numerous occasions that, after someone left, healed, Audrey had the disease. She would bleed and scream and yell, yet she still healed. To say the least, it was incredible.
     I had a lot of trouble believing everything that was happening in the Santo household. It just seemed too far fetched to me. I was shocked, though, when Lauren Slater saw the oil's abilities first hand. She touched one of the figurines, getting oil on her finger that she then rubbed over a small cut on her leg. She said that the cut immediately healed. She had previously said she was a skeptic, so her admitting to this happening completely took me off guard. I still cannot believe that all of this happened. The story of Audrey Santo is truly remarkable; it is shocking, extremely difficult to believe, and impossible to explain. I still do not know exactly how I feel about the whole situation but with what happened to Slater I have to have some faith.

Fantastic Psychology

     Opening Skinner's Box was, to say the least, shocking. As I read chapter after chapter I became more and more interested. The topics of each chapter consumed my thoughts until I started the next. It was truly an amazing book. It made me second guess every single memory I have. I no longer know which ones I have made up in my head and which are actual, accurate memories. In a way, this is extremely frustrating, yet I still love it. I love just how many questions this book resolved, however it also created more, deeper questions, which is fantastic. Lauren Slater seemed to investigate nearly every corner of psychology  though I know there are still many, many more parts to it. 
     This book made me think, more than anything. It also forced me to question everything which, personally, I really enjoy. I did not believe the Audrey Santo story at all until Slater tried some of the oil on her own cut. It worked. I was amazed and overcome with thoughts and questions. Furthermore, the fact that Lauren Slater made all of these experiments into short stories, instead of just talking about them, made the entire book much, much better. It peaked my interest and told stories of psychology in a language I, as a senior in high school, could understand. In my opinion, Lauren Slater composed an extremely interesting, easy to read psychology book full of incredible stories and even more incredible questions. 

Obscura! Obscura!

     In the second chapter of Lauren Slater's Opening Skinner's Box she explores the ethically questionable shock experiments of Stanley Milgram. He used ordinary people, taking volunteers off of the street, and two actors to complete his experiments. One actor would get strapped into an electric chair while the unknowing volunteer was put in another room with a generator with different voltage options for shocking on it. The other actor was dressed as a doctor, giving instructions to the volunteers.The volunteers were then told to say four word series to the man strapped into the electric chair; every time he got a question wrong, he or she was to shock him with increasing voltages. The volunteers were instructed not to stop, no matter what. Milgram was doing an obedience experiment; he wanted to find out just how far ordinary people would go when instructed to by a professional-looking man. 

     Sixty five per cent of people in this experiment were obedient until the man in the electric chair was no longer able to say anything and they were instructed to stop. The volunteers thought they had killed the man, yet they kept shocking him purely because a man in a professional-looking white coat instructed them to. At first I was disgusted by this; how could people not stop? Why did they stay so obedient? Then I started applying this to my own life and realized, no matter how awful it is, I would have stayed obedient until the end, also. I have always done whatever professionals have asked of me. From doctors to teachers to my parents, I have never been a defiant person. I always do exactly as I'm told. Therefore, I would have shocked that man until I thought he was dead. Afterwards, I know I would suffer mentally because of this, yet I am absolutely positive I would have been one of the obedient people in this experiment. 
     This has made me realize that maybe I need to take more control of my life. I know I am a fairly independent person, yet I also realize I will do whatever people above me tell me to. Most of the time, this is a good thing. I do not get in trouble in school, at home, or anywhere else. There are some situations, though, that I should probably take my own initiative in. It seems that this all boils down to my hate of decision making. I will not make any sort of decision unless I absolutely have to, so, I just follow others' instruction. I need to push myself to be less submissive. Luckily, I realize this and that's the first step in changing anything, right?