PatrickD, I suppose that you do not realize that you just passed on some TOTAL BULLSHIT with the following story, when you said: “It’s already been done, by B F Skinner, a pioneer in behaviourist psychology. From memory; he tried that approach on his son. The result was one very messed up human being .IE The son. Skinner was messed up before he decided to experiment on his own child, imo… What did he prove? Apart from the fact that he was a callous arsehole, nothing.”
Here’s the real story: The Skinners were living in the cold climes of Minnesota when their 2nd daughter, Deborah was born. They designed a special crib for her that had a glass front and was temperature and humidity controlled. The advantage for the baby is that they could let her be in her crib, wearing only a diaper, with no need for layers of clothes and blankets. They had a portable carry version of the crib also. Anyway it was nothing more than that. It was not an experimental Skinner box as he designed for animal experiments. Deborah developed normally and was particularly healthy as a young child.
Idk if she is an atheist. She might well be. Her father was. He was also one of the premier scientists of the 20th century. imo. BF Skinner was much maligned and quite unfairly so, perhaps because those who competed with him in science were more concerned with promoting themselves and their own concepts, than with science. It is particularly distressing that flat out defamatory lies about him are still being spread this long after his death.