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The Missing Dimension
in
the Study
of
Man
can
send astro–
nauts to the
moon.
Yet
man
seems unable to
understand himself.
Why this vast gap be–
tween modern tech–
nology and the science
of human behavior?
by
Paul Kroll
30
HUMAN
BEHAVIOR
T
H1NK ABOUT
ir for a moment:
Would men of anorher cen–
tury
believe ir - astronauts
srepping onro che moon?
Incredible?
Nor ar all. In chis decade ir is che
logica.l result of applying modern
rechnical know-how ro space.
This feat was not merely exciring.
Ir
was possible!
But where is che same enthusiasm
for che science of human behavior -
of undersranding man? Why is a
grear scienrific breakrhrough by ro·
day's educarors and rhinkers
miJsing
in
the srudy of man?
Human behaviorist B.
F.
Skinner
explains: "There is no comparable ex–
citemenr abour che problems posed
by human behavior. We are nor close
ro solutions."
1
1
Thi$ ond other s<a«mcnts
by
Skonn<r mrntiontd on thlS
mide ue
in
bis 1971 bcst scllu,
8ryfftll
Fm¡fq., aná DtK·
miJ.
Skmn<r
Í$
rc~dcd
by
m>ny
>S
the most onflucnual
md conrrovc:rsul living psychologost. He
S>l'S
wc
~
•
ncw t«hnology of human bchovior, although he odmoro
wc havc nonc. Hc
cej«rs
t~dirion:al
cxpl:an2uons
o(
bduv–
ior in «:rms of srotcs of mind, f..:6ngs ond atmude> Sktn
ncr cmpb:uizcs tbc nctd ro ch•ngc rbc condiuons ro whicb
pcoplc
>re
rcspooding and th>t artirudts will odjusr rhem·
selves co che new $ir-u2rion h
is
right hcre th:ar Skinncr
comes up shon. This miss.ing elemcm in hl$
thcsi<~
u che
subjccc
o(
chis arrick.
But why? Why should we under–
srand oursdves leasr of all?
Does Ir Make Sense?
Why haven'r educarors discovered
the ultimare causes of human behav–
ior and learned how ro control them?
What has gone wrong in education
that chis most importanr question is
least understood?
We have used the incredible
in–
scrumenrs of science; we have mea–
sured; we have compared. But some–
how, writes Skinner, there is
"something essenrial ... missing 1n
a.lmost all currenr discussions of
human behavior."
What is chis missing dimension?
Without it, we are failing ro solve
the garganruan problems facing
rwenrierh-cenrury man. There may be
no rwenry-firsr cenrury wirhour ir!
Needed: New Understandiog
of Man
Twenry-five hundred years ago,
man understood himself as well as
any other
pan
of his world. "Today,"
wrices psychologist Skinner, "he is
PLAIN TRUTH July 1972