Mexico City — The psychology of operant conditioning pioneered by the controversial American experimenter B.F. Skinner is spreading through Latin America with the force of a crusade. Its strongest apostles are young, activist Latins in universities who want to liberate academic psychology from its philosophical
Ann Arbor, Mich. — David Lebowitz has a problem. One of his supervisors at the large hospital he manages in New York state is supposed to be interviewing new interns after their first six weeks on the job to tell them how they’re doing. The
Chicago — “What happens if tomatoes do have feelings?” a young woman was heard to ask as she and her companion left the Conrad Hilton Hotel. The question was inevitable; just as setting a thousand monkeys to work at typewriters would eventually produce Shakespeare, setting
Madison, Wis. — Dr. Victor Wayland is a cheerful man, the kind of children’s dentist who makes you wish you could repeal your dental history and start over with a new set of baby teeth. The fact that he’s sold on behavior modification as a
(Note: The final speech at the National Conference on Behavioral Issues in Closed Institutions, held June 13-15 at Reston, Va., was delivered by Dr. Peter Steinfels, an associate for the humanities at the Institute of Society, Ethics, and the Life Sciences, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. Steinfels, a
