B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner, commonly known as B. F. Skinner, was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth20 March 1904
CitySusquehana Depot, PA
CountryUnited States of America
B. F. Skinner quotes about
disappointment errors might
A disappointment is not generally an oversight. It might just be the best one can do the situation being what it is. The genuine error is to quit attempting.
sex children men
A child who has been severely punished for sex play is not necessarily less inclined to continue; and a man who has been imprisoned for violent assault is not necessarily less inclined toward violence.
loyalty may citizens
To require a citizen to sign a loyalty oath is to destroy some of the loyalty he could otherwise claim, since any subsequent loyal behavior may then be attributed to the oath.
selfish damn-you ideas
I've had only one idea in my life - a true idee fixe. To put it as bluntly as possible - the idea of having my own way. 'Control!' expresses it. The control of human behavior. In my early experimental days it was a frenzied, selfish desire to dominate. I remember the rage I used to feel when a prediction went awry. I could have shouted at the subjects of my experiments, 'Behave, damn you! Behave as you ought!
thinking ideas people
Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
probability consequence
The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
lying men differences
I may say that the only differences I expect to see revealed between the behavior of the rat and man (aside from enormous differences of complexity) lie in the field of verbal behavior.
punishment people threat
Except when physically restrained, a person is least free or dignified when he is under threat of punishment, and unfortunately most people often are.
education men genius
The only geniuses produced by the chaos of society are those who do something about it. Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.
real men thinking
The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.
men years doe
The speaker does not feel the grammatical rules he is said to apply in composing sentences, and men spoke grammatically for thousands of years before anyone knew there were rules.
variables way different
To say that... behaviors have different 'meanings' is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.
school moon men
Was putting a man on the moon actually easier than improving education in our public schools?
father responsibility people
The majority of people don't want to plan. They want to be free of the responsibility of planning. What they ask for is merely some assurance that they will be decently provided for. The rest is a day-to-day enjoyment of life. That's the explanation for your Father Divines; people naturally flock to anyone they can trust for the necessities of life... They are the backbone of a community--solid, trust-worthy, essential.