In a 2002 survey of psychologists, he was identified as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century.
Skinner himself referred to his philosophy as “radical behaviorism.”
While behaviorism is no longer adominant school of thought, his contributions remain vital today.
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For instance, mental health professionals often utilize Skinner’s operant techniques when working with clients.
Teachers also frequently use reinforcement to shape behavior in the classroom.
Even animal trainers rely heavily on B.F. Skinner’s techniques to train dogs and other animals.
He referred to this process asoperant conditioning.
The term ‘operant’ refers to any behavior that acts on the environment and leads to consequences.
Operant behaviors (actions under our control) differ from respondent behaviors.
Skinner’s idea of operant conditioning influenced how people thought about child development and the learning process.
This, ultimately, is what conditions our behaviors.
To make this process easier to remember, the ABCs of behaviorism were developed.
The ABCs are antecedent (stimulus), behavior (response), and consequence (reinforcement).
Schedules of Reinforcement
Skinner further describedschedules of reinforcementin his operant conditioning research.
B.F. Skinner’s Inventions
B.F. Skinner developed quite a few devices in his time.
His inventions include the Skinner box, the cumulative recorder.
the baby tender, and teaching machines.
Pigeons and rats were often utilized as subjects in studies using this unit.
That is, higher response rates followed rewards while lower response rates followed a lack of rewards.
The cumulative recorder rig also allowed Skinner to see that the schedule of reinforcement influenced the rate of response.
Instead, behaviors were dependent on what happensafterthe response.
Skinner called this operant behavior.
Baby Tender
In 1943, B.F. Skinner invented the “baby tender.”
The baby tender was an enclosed heated crib with a plexiglass window.
Skinner created this gadget in response to his wife’s request for a safer alternative to traditional cribs.
Ladies Home Journalprinted an article on the crib with the title “Baby in a Box.”
This contributed, in part, to some misunderstanding over its intended use.
The rumor was that Skinner’s daughter served as a subject and that she committed suicide as a result.
B.F. Skinner created a math teaching machine that offered immediate feedback after each problem.
Skinner later published a collection of his writings on teaching and education titled “The Technology of Teaching.”
His father was a lawyer, and his mother a homemaker.
He grew up with a brother who was two years his junior.
Unfortunately, his younger brother Edward died at the age of 16 due to a cerebral hemorrhage.
B.F. Skinner later described his Pennsylvania childhood as “warm and stable.”
As a boy, he enjoyed building and inventing thingsa skill he would later use in his ownpsychological experiments.
While known professionally as B.F. Skinner, his friends called him Fred.
He went on to receive a BA in English literature in 1926 from Hamilton College.
During this time, he continued his research on operant behavior and operant conditioning.
The project was eventually canceled.
Drawing on his former literary career, Skinner presented many of his theoretical ideas through fiction.
B.F. Skinner was diagnosed with leukemia in 1989.
He died on August 18, 1990.
His research and writing quickly made him one of the leaders of the behaviorist movement in psychology.
His work also contributed immensely to the development ofexperimental psychology.
you’re free to still see the effects of his theories today.
B. F. Skinner Foundation.Biographical information.
B. F. Skinner Foundation.Pigeon ping pong clip.
Skinner: A Life.
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Skinner BF.Why We Need Teaching Machines.Harvard Educ Rev.
Skinner BF.The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis.
