Skinner then told the following story: Rogerswas sitting through a cold dawn trying to hunt ducks when none were about. Finally after hours of waiting, a lone duck flew by and Rogers took aim and shot, but at the same time another hunter from his own hiding place aimed and shot at the same duck. When the two men arrived simultaneously at the place where the duck had fallen, Rogers turned to the other hunter and said “You feel that this is your duck.” But, as Skinner finished the story, in the end it was Rogers who brought the duck home. Skinner continued that he would do his best to prevent a similar outcome in the present instance. His remarks brought a laugh from all involved. But with this amusing introduction Skinner was also making a serious point, that even with his approach of empathic understanding Rogers is controlling others and leaving them far from free. Skinner then continued:

The controllability of behavior is an old story, of course. Historians have always been delighted when they could prove the influence of some kind of biographical event on a hero. Biographers take the same line. The social sciences have certainly brought further evidence of a statistical nature, and an experimental analysis of the behavior of an individual organism has now essentially clinched the point…

Taken from :PSYCHOLOGY’S GRAND THEORISTS How Personal Experiences Shaped Professional Ideas - Amy Demorest