1904
He was born on March 20, 1904 in Pennsylvania of Susquehanna. His father’s name was William Skinner. He was a lawyer. His mother’s name was Grace Burrhus. She was a good housewife.
1918-19 He read biographies of Francis Bacon, and summaries of his philosophical position. Later on, he was inspired by his thoughts.
1926 He graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in English. He tried his hand at writing, but eventually gave it up, because he felt he had nothing important to say.
1930 He began to write a book called ‘Something to Think About’. It was never completed.
1931 He received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University.
AS A RESEARCHER
1936
He continued his research with the so called ‘Skinner Box’. He developed it to test the effects of behavior modification on laboratory animals. He joined the University of Minnesota. He taught there till 1945. He married Yvonye Blue. She had majored in English at the University of Chicago.
1938
He wrote the book ‘The Behavior of Organisms’.
1941
On a Guggenheim fellowship he wrote a final draft of ‘Verbal Behavior’.
1944-45
The Second World War intervened his research. He picked up the fellowship again and completed the book ‘Verbal Behavior’.
He became Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Indiana.
1945-48
He worked as a Professor of Psychology at Indiana University in Bloomington.
SETTLED IN LONDON
1948
He moved to Cambridge where he resided for the rest of his life. He wrote an article ‘Air Crib’. He attracted considerable attention from other psychologists. In this study, his daughter had spent much of her two years.He wrote his controversial novel ‘Walden Two’. It is a novel on life in an Utopian community. It is based on his principles of social engineering.
1950
Dr. Harry Soleman helped him set up a laboratory in Waltham. It was set up for the study of the operant behavior of psychotics. Dr. Soleman was the chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
1953 He wrote ‘Science and Human Behavior’.
1954 At the conference on current trends in psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, he demonstrated a machine to teach spelling and arithmetic.
1955
In the summer of that year on the island of Monhegan, Maine, he wrote ‘Freedom and the Control of Men’. He was bitterly attacked especially by people in the humanities. He was called a communist, a Fascist and many other names.
1957
He wrote ‘Verbal Behavior’.
AWARDED BEHAVIORIST
1958
He was awarded by the American Psychological Association for his remarkable scientific contribution.
1964
He wrote ‘Behaviorism of Fifty’, he received a Career Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.
1968
He was given "National Medal of Science".
1969
He published the book "Contingency of Reinforcement. A Theoretical Analysis’.
1971
He wrote ‘Beyond Freedom and Dignity’. In this book, he made strong implications for changes in our social system, suggesting that the very survival of our society may depend on the adoption of behavior modification approach. He received ‘International Award for study on Mental Retardation’.
1972 He was honored with the ‘Humanist Yearly Award’.
IN LAST YEARS
1974
He retired himself, but continued to work in the same vein.
1976
He wrote his autobiography ‘Particulars of My Life’.
1978
He was awarded by the American Educational Research Association for his remarkable contribution in the field of educational research and development.
1979
He published a book titled, ‘The Shaping of Behaviorist’.
1987
In his book, ‘Upon Further Reflections’, he narrated his views on the subjects such as World Peace, Evaluation of Education, Old Age and Allied Humanities.
1990 He died of leukemia at the age of 86 years, on August 18, 1990.
• Education is what survives when what has been forgotten.
• Behavior is what an organism can do, or, more accurately, what it is observed by another organism to be doing It is more to the point to say that behavior is that
part of the functioning of an organism which is engaged in action upon or having
commerce with the outside world.
• Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything.
• Physics does not change the nature of the world it studies, and no science of behavior
can change the essential nature of man, even though both sciences yield technologies
with a vast power to manipulate the subject matters.
• A behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of
that behavior occurring in the future.
• A behavior no longer followed by the reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased probability of that behavior occurring in the future.
• The behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequenc modifiestheorganismstendency to repeat the behavior in the future.
• With the right behavioral technology, we can design culture.
• You may not win very often, but you never know whether and when you’ll win again
• Behavior followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus results in an increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future.
• A behavior followed by an aversive stimulus results in a decreased probability of the behavior occurring in the future.
• If new forms of behavior are created by selection, the faults in variations and selection are a source of fascinating problems. We must adapt to new situations, resolve conflicts, and find quick solutions. A lawful biochemical structure does nothing of the sort.
• Important consequences of behavior which could not play a role in evolution because they were not sufficiently stable features of the environment are made effective through operant conditioning during the life time of the individual, whose power in dealing with his world is vastly increased.
• The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do.
• I do not direct my life. I did not design it. I never made decisions. Things always come up and made them for me. That’s what life is.
• If you’re old, don’t try to change yourself, change your environment.
• The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.
• A self is a repertoire of behavior appropriate to a given set of contingencies.
• To say that man is sinful because he sins is to give an operational definition of sin.To say tha hesinsbecause he is sinful is to trace his behavior to a supposed inner trait. But whether or not a person engages in the kind of behavior called sinful depends upon circumstances, which are not mentioned in either question. The sin assigned as an inner possession is to be found in a history of reinforcement.
HIS ACHIEVEMENT
B. F. Skinner was an American psychologist, educator and author. For psychologists and people interested in psychology, his contribution is controversial. Although he was honored by many colleges and universities.
Skinner received his Ph.D. in 1931. He stayed at Harvard to do research until 1936.
Hamilton College gave him an honorary doctorate degree. Moreover, Chicago University, Texas University, Western Washington University honored him with a doctorate degree.
1945
He became chairman of the Psychology department at Indiana university.He was a very active man, doing research and guiding hundreds of doctoral candidates. He wrote many books.
He was not successful as a writer of fiction and poems. He is one of our best psychology writers. His book ‘Walden Two’, though it is a fictional account of a community, is based on his behaviorist principles.
1958 He was awarded by American Psychological Association for his remarkable contribution in the field of psychology.
1964 He received a career Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.
1968 He was given the ‘National Medal of Science.’
1971
He achieved the ‘International Award for study on Mental Retardation.’
1972
He was given the Humanist Yearly Award.
1978
He was awarded by American Educational Research association for his remarkable contribution in the field of educational research and development.
Skinner was a behaviorist. From 1930 to 1990, he worked continuously on psychological study. He was known as humanist psychologist. His contribution in developing the modern behaviorism is precious.
