Burrhus Fredric Skinner

He was born March 20th

1904

He died August 18th 1990

Originally wanted to ne a

novelist

B.A. in English from

Hamilton

Went to Harvard for

Psychology Graduate

Program

Who is he?

Education is what survives when what has been learned

has been forgotten

He is a Psychologist

Studied behaviorism

Behavioral Phycology is the

study of external behavior

He theorized that you could

change the way people think

He believed that you could

influence peoples behavior

Research

We shouldn’t teach great books

We should teach a love of reading

He believed that behavior is

sustained by reinforcements or

rewards, not by free will.

Developed “Operant

Conditioning”

Definition: type of learning in

which an individual's behavior is

modified by its antecedents

(positive reinforcements) and

consequences (negative

reinforcements).

Behavior

He created the “Skinner

Box”

Placed an animal inside

to monitor the animals

behavior

Inside the box there was

a lever

Would present a treat

We’re positive treats

Invention

YouTube Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c

Skinner often made the analogy of his project

to a casino

He found that:

1.) Primary Conditioners → have a breaking

point

2.) Secondary Conditioners → don’t have a

breaking point

Findings

If our behavior can be monitored and

changed the way Skinner was able to

get responses from the animals he

tested, do we really have full self

control?

Question #1

Does Skinner “de-

humanize” or “mechanize”

humans?

Question #2

Skinner is known for a quote: “Give

me a child and I’ll shape them into

anything”. Is this power or knowledge a

dangerous tool for people to posses?

Question #3

BF Skinner." BF Skinner. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

<http://www3.niu.edu/acad/psych/Millis/History/2003/cogrev_skinner.htm>.

"B. F. Skinner." B. F. Skinner. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/Skinner.html>.

B. F. Skinner: The Life of Psychology's "Radical Behaviorist"." About Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_skinner.htm>.

Skinner - Operant Conditioning." B.F. Skinner. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html>.

References