Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990), Ph.D. was a highly influential American psychologist, author, inventor, advocate for social reform ^[1][2][3][4] and poet.^[5] He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until retirement in 1974.^[6] He invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called Radical Behaviorism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology — the experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, which has recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings.^[7] He discovered and advanced the rate of response as a dependent variable in psychological research. He invented the cumulative recorder to measure rate of responding as part of his highly influential work on schedules of reinforcement.^{[8] [9]} In a recent survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century.^[10] He was an incredibly prolific author, publishing 21 books and 180 articles.^{[11] [12]} is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Susquehanna River is a river in the northeastern United States, approximately 410 mi (715 km) long. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Largest metro area Delaware Valley Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1630 Incorporated 1636 Government  - Type Mayor-City Council  - Mayor Kenneth Reeves (D) Area  - City  7. ... Psychological science redirects here. ... This article is about the oldest and largest campus of the University of Minnesota. ... Indiana University, founded in 1820, is a nine-campus university system in the state of Indiana. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... For other colleges with the same name, see Hamilton College (disambiguation). ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. ... Radical behaviorism is a philosophy that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology, developed by B. F. Skinner. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... For other uses, see Pavlov (disambiguation). ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... A psychologist is a person who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human mind, including behavior, cognition, and affect. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... An operant conditioning chamber (sometimes called a Skinner box after B. F. Skinner, its inventor) is an experimental apparatus used by psychologists to study operant conditioning in animals. ... Radical behaviorism is a philosophy that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology, developed by B. F. Skinner. ... The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to the approach to psychology founded by B. F. Skinner. ... Verbal Behavior (1957) is a book written by B.F. Skinner in which the author presents his ideas on language. ... In operant conditioning, reinforcement is an increase in the strength of a response following the presentation of a stimulus contingent on that response. ...

Biography

Skinner was born on March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania to Grace and Moses Skinner. His father was a lawyer. His brother Edward, two and a half years his junior, died at sixteen of a cerebral aneurysm. is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... A cerebral aneurysm or brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. ...

He attended Hamilton College in New York with the intention of becoming a writer. While attending, he joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He also wrote for the school paper but saw himself as an outsider, being an atheist in a religious school, and often criticized the school and its beliefs. He received his B.A in English literature in 1926. After graduation, he spent a year at his parents' home in Scranton, attempting to become a writer of fiction. But he soon became disillusioned with his literary skills and concluded that he had little world experience, and no strong personal perspective from which to write. During this time, which Skinner later called "the dark year," he chanced upon a copy of Bertrand Russell's recently published book An Outline of Philosophy, in which Russell discusses the behaviorist philosophy of psychologist John B. Watson. At the time, Skinner had begun to take more interest in the actions and behaviors of those around him, and some of his short stories had taken a "psychological" slant. He decided to abandon literature and seek admission as a graduate student in psychology at Harvard University. While a graduate student, he invented the operant conditioning chamber and cumulative recorder, developed the rate of response as a critical dependent variable in psychological research, and developed a powerful, inductive, data-driven method of experimental research. For other colleges with the same name, see Hamilton College (disambiguation). ... This article is about the state. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... Lambda Chi Alpha (ΛΧΑ), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is one of the largest mens general fraternities in North America with more than 250,000 initiated members and chapters at more than 300 universities. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... A B.A. issued from the University of Tennessee. ... Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878–September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism, after doing research on animal behavior. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... An operant conditioning chamber (sometimes called a Skinner box after B. F. Skinner, its inventor) is an experimental apparatus used by psychologists to study operant conditioning in animals. ...

Skinner received a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard in 1931 and remained at that institution as a researcher until 1936. He then taught at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and later at Indiana University, where he was chair of the Psychology Department from 1946-1947, before returning to Harvard as a tenured professor in 1948. He remained there for the rest of his career. This article is about the oldest and largest campus of the University of Minnesota. ... Indiana University is the principal campus of the Indiana University system. ...

In 1936 Skinner married Yvonne Blue (1911-1997); the couple had two daughters, Julie (m. Vargas) and Deborah (m. Buzan). He died of leukemia and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leukemia or leukaemia(Greek leukos λευκός, “white”; aima αίμα, “blood”) (see spelling differences) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation (production by multiplication) of blood cells, usually white blood cells (leukocytes). ... Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery Hunnewell family obelisk Civil War memorial Founded in 1831 as Americas first garden cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery is an Elysium where, traditionally, chaste classical monuments were set in rolling landscaped terrain. ... Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1630 Incorporated 1636 Government  - Type Mayor-City Council  - Mayor Kenneth Reeves (D) Area  - City  7. ...

Theory

He conducted pioneering work in psychology and innovated his own school of Radical Behaviorism, which seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences. He is known as the inventor of the operant conditioning chamber (or Skinner box), a research tool used to examine the orderly relations of the behavior of organisms (such as rats, pigeons and humans) to their environment. He is the author of Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Verbal Behavior and numerous other books and articles. He discovered what is now called operant conditioning and articulated the now widely accepted term reinforcement as a scientific principle of behavior. His position reflects the extension of the influence of physicist Ernst Mach's The Science of Mechanics to the subject of psychology.^[13] Skinner's pioneering research reflected the dual influence of whole organism research in Ivan Pavlov and Jacques Loeb.^[14] Radical behaviorism is a philosophy that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology, developed by B. F. Skinner. ... An operant conditioning chamber (sometimes called a Skinner box after B. F. Skinner, its inventor) is an experimental apparatus used by psychologists to study operant conditioning in animals. ... Walden Two (1948) is a novel by B.F. Skinner which described a fictional utopia in which a thousand people have obtained a good life modeled after Thoreaus experiment in living near Walden pond. ... Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971). ... Verbal Behavior (1957) is a book written by B.F. Skinner in which the author presents his ideas on language. ... Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. ... In operant conditioning, reinforcement is an increase in the strength of a response following the presentation of a stimulus contingent on that response. ... Ernst Mach Ernst Mach (February 18, 1838 – February 19, 1916) was an Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher and is the namesake for the Mach number and the optical illusion known as Mach bands. ... For other uses, see Pavlov (disambiguation). ... Jacques Loeb (April 7, 1859 – February 11, 1924) was a German-born American physiologist and biologist. ...

Operant Conditioning Chamber

While at Harvard, B. F. Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber to measure organismic responses and their orderly interactions with the environment. This device was an example of his lifelong ability to design and invent useful devices, which included whimsical devices in his childhood ^[15] to the cumulative recorder to measure the rate of response of organisms in an operant chamber. Even in old age, Skinner invented a Thinking Aid to assist in writing.^[16] Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. ... Rate is a ratio between two measurements with different units. ...

Radical Behaviorism

Finding the Behaviorism of his time to be problematic, Skinner branched off his own version he called Radical Behaviorism^[17] which unlike methodological behaviorism did not require truth by consensus so it could accept private events such as thinking, perception and emotion in its account. Also, unlike all of the other Behaviorisms - Tolman, Hull, Clark and others - Skinner's version radically rejected mediating constructs and the hypothetico-deductive method, ^[18][13] instead offering a strongly inductive, data driven approach that has proven to be successful in dozens of areas from behavioral pharmacology to language therapy in the developmentally delayed. Behaviorism (also called learning perspective) is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. ... Radical behaviorism is a philosophy that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology, developed by B. F. Skinner. ...

Verbal Behavior

Challenged by Alfred North Whitehead during a casual discussion while at Harvard to provide an account of a randomly provided piece of verbal behavior^[19] Skinner set about attempting to extend his then-new functional, inductive, approach to the complexity of human verbal behavior. Developed over two decades, his work appeared as the culmination of the William James lectures in the book, Verbal Behavior. Chomsky himself conceded that it was the "most careful and thoroughgoing presentation of such speculations" ^[20] as a reason for giving it "a review." After a slow reception, perhaps due to its lack of experimental evidence typical of Skinner's previous work ^[21] Skinner's functional analysis of verbal behavior has seen a resurgence of interest in applied settings. Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861 Ramsgate, Kent, England – December 30, 1947 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) was an English-born mathematician who became a philosopher. ... Verbal Behavior (1957) is a book written by B.F. Skinner in which the author presents his ideas on language. ... Verbal Behavior (1957), written by psychologist B.F. Skinner, develops a functional analysis [1][2] of human behavior encompassing what is traditionally called language, linguistics, or speech. ...

Effect on Education

Skinner influenced education as well as psychology. He was quoted as saying, "Teachers must learn how to teach... they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching." Skinner was very much into positive reinforcement. With positive reinforcement, Skinner argues that people learn best from rewards rather than punishment. Skinner also suggests that the main thing people learn from being punished is how to avoid getting punished the next time.

Skinner says that there are 5 main obstacles in learning: 1) People have a fear of failure 2) There is a lack of directions 3) There is also a lack of clarity in the direction 4) Positive reinforcement is not used enough 5) The task is not broken down into small enough steps

Skinner suggests that with all of the obstacles out of the way any age appropriate skill can be taught using his 5 principles: 1) Have small steps 2) Work from most simple to most complex tasks 3) Repeat the directions as many times as possible 4) Give immediate feedback 5) Give positive reinforcement The one problem with Skinner's ideas is that teachers wouldn't follow these simple principles. Therefore, the principles worked in a lab testing but not in the actual classroom.

Walden Two & Beyond Freedom And Dignity

Skinner is popularly known mainly for his books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Walden Two describes a visit to an imaginary utopian commune in the 1940s United States, where the productivity and happiness of the citizens is far in advance of that in the outside world due to their practice of scientific social planning and the use of operant conditioning in the raising of children. Walden Two (1948) is a novel by B.F. Skinner which described a fictional utopia in which a thousand people have obtained a good life modeled after Thoreaus experiment in living near Walden pond. ... Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971). ... See Utopia (disambiguation) for other meanings of this word Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... A Commune is a kind of intentional community where most resources are shared and there is little or no personal property. ...

Walden Two, like Thoreau's Walden, champions a lifestyle that does not support war, foster competition or social strife. It encourages a lifestyle of minimal consumption, rich social relationships, personal happiness, satisfying work and leisure. Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau[1]) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In Beyond Freedom and Dignity Skinner suggests that a technology of behavior could help make a better society. However, we would have to accept that an autonomous agent was not the driving force for our actions. Skinner offered alternatives to punishment and challenged his readers to use modern technology for more than just war. Instead science might be used to build a better society. An autonomous agent is a system situated in, and part of, an environment, which senses that environment, and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda. ...

Schedules of Reinforcement

Part of Skinner's analysis of behavior involved not only the power of a single instance of reinforcement, but the effects of particular schedules of reinforcement over time.

Skinner's types of schedules of reinforcement involved: continuous, interval (fixed or variable), and ratio (fixed or variable). In operant conditioning, reinforcement is an increase in the strength of a response following the presentation of a stimulus contingent on that response. ...

• Continuous reinforcement — constant delivery of reinforcement for an action; every time a specific action was performed the subject instantly and always received a reinforcement. This method is prone to extinction and is very hard to enforce.
• Interval (fixed/variable) reinforcement (Fixed) — reinforcement is set for certain times. (Variable) — times between reinforcement are not set, and often differ.
• Ratio (fixed or variable) reinforcement (Fixed) — deals with a set amount of work needed to be completed before there is reinforcement. (Variable) — amount of work needed for the reinforcement differs from the last.

Political Views

Skinner's political writings emphasized his hopes that an effective and humane science of behavioral control - a technology of human behavior- could help problems unsolved by earlier approaches or aggravated by advances in technology such as the atomic bomb. One of Skinner's stated goals was to prevent humanity from destroying itself ^[22] The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ...

Skinner saw the problems of political control not as a battle of domination versus freedom, but as choices of what kinds of control were used for what purposes.^[2] Skinner opposed the use of coercion, punishment and fear and supported the use of positive reinforcement.^[1]--> He opposed spanking in the school and wrote a letter to the California Senate that helped lead it to banning spanking. Domination is a supreme or preeminate control, rule, or governing; plural dominion. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Coercion (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Fear (disambiguation). ... Definition: Positive Reinforcement: the presentation of something pleasant or rewarding immediately following a behavior. ...

"When Milton's Satan falls from heaven, he ends in hell. And what does he say to reassure himself? 'Here, at least, we shall be free.' And that, I think, is the fate of the old-fashioned liberal. He's going to be free, but he's going to find himself in hell." – B. F. Skinner (William F. Buckley Jr, "On the Firing Line," 87.)

Air crib

In an effort to help his wife cope with the day to day tasks of child rearing, Skinner - a consummate inventor - thought he might be able to improve upon the standard crib. He invented the 'air-crib' to meet this challenge. An 'air-crib' ^{[23] [24]}(also known as a 'baby tender' or humorously as an 'heir conditioner') is an easily-cleaned, temperature and humidity-controlled box Skinner designed to assist in the raising of babies.

It was one of his more controversial inventions, and was extremely poorly received by the general public due to perceptions of its making child rearing cold and mechanical. It was designed to make the early childcare more simple (by greatly reducing laundry, diaper rash, cradle cap, etc.), while encouraging the baby to be more confident, mobile, comfortable, healthy and therefore less prone to cry. Reportedly it had some success in these goals.^[25] Air-cribs were later commercially manufactured by several companies. Air-cribs of some fashion are still used to this day, and publications continue to dispel myths about, and tout the progressive advantages of Skinner's original.^{[citation needed]}

Superstition in the Pigeon

One of Skinner's experiments examined the formation of superstition in one of his favorite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behavior." He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions. For other uses, see Superstition (disambiguation). ... Pigeon redirects here. ...

One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a 'tossing' response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return.

– B.F. Skinner, "'Superstition' in the Pigeon," Journal of Experimental Psychology #38, 1947 [8]

Skinner suggested that the pigeons believed that they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their "rituals" and that this experiment shed light on human behavior:

The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behavior. Rituals for changing one's fortune at cards are good examples. A few accidental connections between a ritual and favorable consequences suffice to set up and maintain the behavior in spite of many unreinforced instances. The bowler who has released a ball down the alley but continues to behave as if she were controlling it by twisting and turning her arm and shoulder is another case in point. These behaviors have, of course, no real effect upon one's luck or upon a ball half way down an alley, just as in the present case the food would appear as often if the pigeon did nothing -- or, more strictly speaking, did something else.

– Ibid Look up ibid, idem in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Modern behavioral psychologists have disputed Skinner's "superstition" explanation for the behaviors he recorded. Subsequent research (for instance, by Staddon and Simmelhag in 1971) while finding similar behavior failed to find support for Skinner's "adventitious reinforcement" explanation for it. By looking at the timing of different behaviors within the interval, Staddon and Simmelhag were able to distinguish two classes of behavior: the terminal response, which occurred in anticipation of food, and interim responses, that occurred earlier in the interfood interval and were rarely contiguous with food. Terminal responses seem to reflect classical (rather than operant) conditioning, rather than adventitious reinforcement, guided by a process like that observed in 1968 by Brown and Jenkins in their "autoshaping" procedures. The causation of interim activities (such as the schedule-induced polydipsia seen in a similar situation with rats) also cannot be traced to adventitious reinforcement and its details are still obscure (Staddon, 1977). Eduardo J. Fernandez of the Department of Psychology of Indiana University sought to follow up on Staddon and Simmelhag's debunking of Skinner's hypothesis and to "further contrast superstitious versus functional interpretations of behavior" in pigeons. In a 2004 paper titled "Superstition Re-revisited: An Examination of Niche-Related Mechanisms Underlying Schedule Produced Behavior in Pigeons," he demonstrated that what Skinner had seen as "superstitious" behavior was accounted for by the natural foraging behaviors of the species he used as test subjects.[9]

see also Timberlake & Lucas 1985 ^[26]

Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)

Dr. Thomas F. Gilbert, one of Skinner's Ph.D. students at Harvard, went on to apply Skinnerian theory and findings to improving performance in the world of work. His seminal book is titled Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance. This book shows how optimal human performance is a function of a variety of factors which can be categorized as being either: 1) within the Environment (e.g., goal setting, performance feedback, incentives, equipment, organization design and work flow); or 2) within the Individual (e.g., motivation, knowledge, and skills). He goes on to outline an approach to systematically and cost-effectively develop these employee performance support systems to optimize employee and organizational performance. This is an important extension of Professor Skinner's work.

Critics & Criticisms

J.E.R. Staddon

As understood by Skinner, ascribing dignity to individuals involves giving them credit for their actions. To say "Skinner is brilliant" means that Skinner is an originating force. If Skinner's determinist theory is right, he is merely the focus of his environment. He is not an originating force and he had no choice in saying the things he said or doing the things he did. Skinner's environment and genetics both allowed and compelled him to write his book. Similarly, the environment and genetic potentials of the advocates of freedom and dignity cause them to resist the reality that their own activities are deterministically grounded. J. E. R. Staddon (The New Behaviorism, 2001) has argued the compatibilist position, that Skinner's determinism is not in any way contradictory to traditional notions of reward and punishment, as he believed ^{[citation needed]}. Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. ... John Staddon is James B. Duke Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Biology and Neurobiology. ... Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are in fact compatible and capable of co-existence (people who hold this belief are known as compatibilists). ...

Awards

 * 1968 - National Medal of Science from President Lyndon B. Johnson * 1971 - Gold Medal of the American Psychological Foundation * 1972 - Humanist of the Year Award * 1990 - Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology 

Noam Chomsky

Perhaps Skinner's best known critic, Noam Chomsky published his review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior soon after it was published.^[20] The review became better known than the book it purported to review.^[5] It has been credited with launching the cognitive movement in psychology and other disciplines. Avram Noam Chomsky (Hebrew: אברם נועם חומסקי Yiddish: אברם נועם כאמסקי) (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. ... Verbal Behavior (1957) is a book written by B.F. Skinner in which the author presents his ideas on language. ...

Chomsky also 'reviewed' Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity utilizing the same basic motifs as his Verbal Behavior review. Among Chomsky's critiques were that Skinner's laboratory work could not be extended to humans, that when it was extended to humans it represented 'scientistic' behavior attempting to emulate science but which was not scientific, that Skinner was not a scientist because he rejected the hypothetico-deductive method of theory testing, that Skinner had no science of behavior, and that Skinner's works were highly conducive to justifying or advancing totalitarianism.^[27] The hypothetico-deductive model,[1] [2] or method is a proposed description of scientific method. ...

Others

Skinner has often been associated with political and social positions he never espoused and even explicitly objected to ^[28].

Written Works

• The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis, 1938. ISBN 1-58390-007-1, ISBN 0-87411-487-X.
• Walden Two, 1948. ISBN 0-02-411510-X.
• Science and Human Behavior, 1953. ISBN 0-02-929040-6.
• Schedules of Reinforcement, with C. B. Ferster, 1957. ISBN 0-13-792309-0.
• Verbal Behavior, 1957. ISBN 1-58390-021-7.
• The Analysis of Behavior: A Program for Self Instruction, with James G. Holland, 1961. This self-instruction book is no longer in print, but the B.F. Skinner Foundation web site has an interactive version. ISBN 0-07-029565-4.
• The Technology of Teaching, 1968.
• Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis, 1969. ISBN 0-390-81280-3.
• Beyond Freedom and Dignity, 1971. ISBN 0-394-42555-3.
• About Behaviorism, 1974. ISBN 0-394-49201-3, ISBN 0-394-71618-3.
• Particulars of My Life: Part One of an Autobiography, 1976. ISBN 0-394-40071-2.
• Reflections on Behaviorism and Society, 1978. ISBN 0-13-770057-1.
• The Shaping of a Behaviorist: Part Two of an Autobiography, 1979. ISBN 0-394-50581-6.
• Notebooks, edited by Robert Epstein, 1980. ISBN 0-13-624106-9.
• Skinner for the Classroom, edited by R. Epstein, 1982. ISBN 0-87822-261-8.
• Enjoy Old Age: A Program of Self-Management, with M. E. Vaughan, 1983.
• A Matter of Consequences: Part Three of an Autobiography, 1983. ISBN 0-394-53226-0, ISBN 0-8147-7845-3.
• Upon Further Reflection, 1987. ISBN 0-13-938986-5.
• Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior, 1989. ISBN 0-675-20674-X.
• Cumulative Record: A Selection of Papers, 1959, 1961, 1972 and 1999 as Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition. This book includes a reprint of Skinner's October 1945 Ladies' Home Journal article, "Baby in a Box," Skinner's original, personal account of the much-misrepresented "Baby in a box" device. ISBN 0-87411-969-3 (paperback)

Walden Two (1948) is a novel by B.F. Skinner which described a fictional utopia in which a thousand people have obtained a good life modeled after Thoreaus experiment in living near Walden pond. ... Charles Bohris Ferster was an American behavioral psychologist. ... Verbal Behavior (1957), written by psychologist B.F. Skinner, develops a functional analysis [1][2] of human behavior encompassing what is traditionally called language, linguistics, or speech. ... Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971). ... ... The daughter in a box story, which claimed that B.F. Skinner raised his daughter in a box like a lab animal, is untrue: it is at best an urban legend. ...

See also

• Applied behavior analysis
• Project Pigeon
• Radical behaviorism
• Shaping (psychology)

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a systematic process of studying and modifying observable behavior through a manipulation of the environment. ... During World War II, Project Pigeon (or Project Orcon, for organic control) was American behaviorist B. F. Skinners attempt to develop a pigeon-guided missile. ... Radical behaviorism is a philosophy that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology, developed by B. F. Skinner. ... The differential reinforcement of successive approximations, or more commonly, shaping is a conditioning procedure used primarily in behavioral psychology. ...

Authors On Skinner

• Bjork, D. W. (1993) B.F. Skinner: a life
• Dews, P. B. (Ed.)(1970) Festschrift For B. F. Skinner.New York : Appleton-Century-Crofts.
• Evans, R. I. (1968) B. F. Skinner: the man and his ideas
• Nye, Robert D. (1979) What Is B. F. Skinner Really Saying?. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall.
• Sagal, P. T. (1981) Skinner's Philosophy. Washington, D.C. : University Press of America.
• Smith, D.L. (2002). On Prediction and Control. B.F. Skinner and the Technological Ideal of Science. In W.E. Pickren & D.A. Dewsbury, (Eds.), Evolving Perspectives on the History of Psychology, Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
• Wiener, D. N. (1996) B.F. Skinner: benign anarchist

References

• Kaufhold, J. A. (2002) The Psychology of Learning and the Art of Teaching
• Basil-Curzon, L. (2004) Teaching in Further Education : A outline of Principles and Practice
• Hardin, C.J. (2004) Effective Classroom Management
• http://www.bfskinner.org/bio.asp

Verbal Behavior (1957) is a book written by B.F. Skinner in which the author presents his ideas on language. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

B. F. Skinner

• The Analysis of Behavior: A Program for Self-Instruction, in software (Win32).
• Biography of B.F. Skinner at AllPsych
• National Academy of Sciences biography.
• The B. F. Skinner Foundation.
• B.F. Skinner profile, NNDB.
• Los Horcones Walden Two Community.
• I was not a lab rat, response by Skinner's daughter about the "baby box."
• Audio Recordings Society for Experimental

Analysis of Behavior Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ...

Articles by B.F. Skinner

• Two Types of Conditioned Reflex and a Pseudo Type (1935), Journal of General Psychology, 12, 66-77.
• "Superstition" in the Pigeon (1947), Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168-172.
• Are Theories of Learning Necessary?, Psychological Review, 57, 193-216, 1950.

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Research	Biological · Cognitive · Comparative · Developmental · Evolutionary · Experimental · Mathematical · Neuropsychology · Personality · Physiological · Positive · Psychopathology · Psychophysics · Qualitative psychological research · Quantitative psychological research · Social · Transpersonal Psychological science redirects here. ... The history of psychology as a scholarly study of the mind and behavior dates, in Europe, back to the Late Middle Ages. ... A psychologist is a person who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human mind, including behavior, cognition, and affect. ... In psychology, biological psychology or psychobiology[1] is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behavior. ... Cognitive Psychology is the school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language. ... A brain of a cat Psychologists and scientists do not always agree on what should be considered Comparative Psychology. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated EP) is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain mental and psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—as adaptations, i. ... Experimental psychology is an approach to psychology that treats it as one of the natural sciences, and therefore assumes that it is susceptible to the experimental method. ... Mathematical Psychology is an approach to psychological research that is based on mathematical modeling of perceptual, cognitive and motor processes, and on the establishment of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus characteristics with quantifiable behavior. ... Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology and neurology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors. ... Personality psychology is a branch of psychology which studies personality and individual differences. ... Physiological psychology is sometimes related to psychiatry, and in fact may end up becoming the parent branch which contains psychiatry. ... Positive psychology is a relatively young branch of psychology that studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. ... Psychopathology is a term which refers to either the study of mental illness or mental distress, or the manifestation of behaviors and experiences which may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment. ... Psychophysics is the branch of cognitive psychology dealing with the relationship between physical stimuli and their perception. ... In the broadest sense qualitative research is research which uses only dichotomous data — that is, data which can take only the values 0 (zero) and 1 (one). ... Quantitative psychological research is psychological research which performs statistical estimation or statistical inference. ... Social psychology is the scientific study of how peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport, 1985). ... Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, the transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human mind. ...
Applied	Assessment · Clinical · Counseling · Educational · Forensic · Health · Industrial and organizational · Legal · Relationship counseling · School · Sport Image File history File links Psi2. ... Psychological testing or psychological assessment is a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to infer generalizations about a given individual. ... The Greek letter Psi is often used as a symbol of psychology. ... Counseling psychology is an application of the basic professional skills in psychology to a population that has been more located in schools rather than hospitals and clinics. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Industrial and organizational psychology (also known as I/O psychology, work psychology, work and organizational psychology, W-O psychology, occupational psychology, personnel psychology or talent assessment) concerns the application of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. ... Legal psychology involves the application of empirical psychological research to legal institutions and people who come into contact with the law. ... Relationship counseling is the process of counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences. ... Educational psychology or school psychology is the psychological science studying how children and adults learn, the effectiveness of various educational strategies and tactics, and how schools function as organizations. ...
Orientations	Behaviorism · Cognitivism · Cognitive Behavioral · Existential · Family Systems · Feminist · Gestalt · Humanistic · Psychoanalysis · Analytical · Psychodynamic · Transpersonal Behaviorism (also called learning perspective) is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. ... In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical approach to understanding the mind, which argues that mental function can be understood by quantitative, positivist and scientific methods, and that such functions can be described as information processing models. ... A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapy based on modifying cognitions, assumptions, beliefs and behaviors, with the aim of influencing disturbed emotions. ... Existential psychotherapy is partly based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. ... Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy and family systems therapy, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. ... Feminist Therapy Code of Ethics* (Revised, 1999) Preamble Feminist therapy evolved from feminist philosophy, psychological theory and practice, and political theory. ... Gestalt Therapy is an existential and experiential psychotherapy that focuses on the individuals experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of the overall situation. ... Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. ... pychoanalysis today comprises several interlocking theories concerning the functioning of the mind; the term also refers to a specific type of treatment where the analyst, upon hearing the thoughts of the analysand (analytic patient), formulates and then explains the unconscious bases for the patients symptoms and character problems. ... Analytical psychology is part of the Jungian psychology movement started by Carl Jung and his followers. ... It has been suggested that Psychodynamic psychology be merged into this article or section. ... Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, the transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human mind. ...
Seminal writers	B.F. Skinner · Jean Piaget · Sigmund Freud · Otto Rank · Albert Bandura · Leon Festinger · Carl Rogers · Stanley Schachter · Neal E. Miller · Edward Thorndike · Abraham Maslow · Gordon Allport · Erik Erikson · Hans Eysenck · William James · David McClelland · Raymond Cattell · John B. Watson · Kurt Lewin · Donald O. Hebb · George A. Miller · Clark L. Hull · Jerome Kagan · Carl Jung · Ivan Pavlov Jean Piaget (August 9, 1896 – September 16, 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist and developmental psychologist, well known for his work studying children, his theory of cognitive development and for his epistemological view called genetic epistemology. He created in 1955 the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva and... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Otto Rank (April 22, 1884 – October 31, 1939) was an Austrian psychologist. ... Albert Bandura (born 4 20 1925 in Mundare, Canada), a Ball Licker, is best known for his work on nut sack and on self-efficacy. ... Leon Festinger Leon Festinger (May 8, 1919 – February 11, 1989) was a social psychologist from New York City who became famous for his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). ... Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. ... Stanley Schachter was born on April 15, 1922, to Nathan and Anna Schachter in Flushing, New York. ... Neal E Miller was born in Milwaukee in 1909. ... Edward Lee Thorndike (August 31, 1874 - August 9, 1949) was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. ... Abraham (Harold) Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist. ... Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 - October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck (March 4, 1916 - September 4, 1997) was an eminent psychologist, most remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... David McClelland (1917-1998). ... Raymond Bernard Cattell (20 March 1905 - 2 February 1998) was a British and American psychologist who theorized the existence of fluid and crystallized intelligences to explain human cognitive ability. ... John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878–September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism, after doing research on animal behavior. ... Kurt Zadek Lewin (September 9, 1890 – February 12, 1947) was a German psychologist and one of the pioneers of social psychology. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... George A. Miller (born February 3 1920) is a famous professor of psychology at Princeton University, whose most famous work was The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information, which was published in 1956 in In the linguistics community, Miller is well... Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952) was an influential American psychologist and behaviorist who sought to explain learning and motivation by scientific laws of behavior. ... Jerome Kagan (born 1929) was one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology. ... Jung redirects here. ... For other uses, see Pavlov (disambiguation). ...
Lists	Topics · Counseling · Disciplines · Drugs · Neurological Disorders · Organizations · Psychologists · Psychotherapies · Publications · Research Methods · Schools of theory · Timeline This page aims to list all topics related to psychology. ... This is an List of counseling topics is incomplete list. ... These are some of the sub-fields within the field of psychology: Abnormal psychology Activity theory Analytical psychology Applied psychology Asian Psychology Behavior analysis Behavioural medicine Behavioural psychology Biobehavioural health Biological psychology Biopsychology Cognitive neuropsychology Cognitive psychology Cognitive neuroscience Community psychology Comparative psychology Clinical psychology Counselling psychology Critical psychology Developmental... This is a list of psychiatric drugs used by psychiatrists to treat mental illness or distress. ... This is a list of major and frequently observed neurological disorders (e. ... List of organizations and societies in psychology. ... This list includes notable psychologists and contributors to psychology, some of whom may not have thought of themselves primarily as psychologists but are included here because of their important contributions to the discipline. ... This is an alphabetical List of Psychotherapies. ... This is a list of important publications in psychology, organized by field. ... A very wide range of research methods are used in psychology. ... The psychological schools are the great classical theories of psychology. ... This is a timeline of psychology. ...

[[nl:Burrhus Skinner]