Picturing Direct and Indirect Behaviour Modification in Walden Two: The Flawed Utopia

AbstractBurrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990), who is the founder of behaviorism, a learning theory that relies mostly on observable behaviors of organisms instead of focusing on mental activities, defends that psychology should be a science of behavior rather than a science of mind. Indeed, Walden Two provides an ideal context for the narrator, Frazier, to control, shape and manipulate behaviors of the people in Walden Two community, revealing Skinner's view that mental states are just theoretical constructs. Being Skinner's only work of fiction embodying his ideas and theory, Walden Two portrays a utopia in which each decent individual in a perfect community perfectly conforms to the regulations; thus they end up living in perfect harmony. It is also a particularly important work to focus on since it derives from Skinner's claims about education. Skinner claims to have achieved a utopia through a science of behavior and he maintains that human behavior can be controlled via manipulating contingencies of reward and punishment. The purpose of this study is to conduct an in-depth analysis of Walden Two in order to unveil the underlying direct and indirect laws which govern the learning of people at Walden Two. In particular, the learning principles accounting for the strengthening or weakening of existing behaviors at Walden Two were studied and the notion of education was purified with regard to Skinner's views. The analysis reveals that the so-called utopia seems to fail to achieve the intended ends at times