ByQuotes

B. F. Skinner Quotes

Powerful B. F. Skinner for Daily Growth

About B. F. Skinner

Born on March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, Burrhus Frederic Skinner – widely known as B.F. Skinner – was an influential American psychologist, behaviorist, and author. He is renowned for his theory of operant conditioning, which fundamentally changed the field of psychology. Skinner's early life was marked by a profound interest in science, fostered by his father, who encouraged him to explore topics like electricity, physics, and chemistry. This curiosity led him to study psychology at Hamilton College, where he received his Bachelor's degree in 1926. He then pursued a Master's and Ph.D. at Harvard University under the mentorship of John B. Watson, the father of behaviorism. Skinner's career took off when he joined the faculty at Indiana University in 1930. However, it was his move to Harvard in 1936 that would prove most significant. There, he began constructing his famous "operant chamber," or Skinner box, used to study reinforcement schedules and learning processes. One of his most influential works, "Behavior of Organisms" (1938), established the foundations of operant conditioning. In this book, Skinner argued that behavior is a function of its consequences – a principle that would shape much of modern psychology. His subsequent publications, including "Science and Human Behavior" (1953) and "Walden Two" (1948), further explored the applications of operant conditioning to human behavior and society. The latter, a utopian novel, proposed an ideal community based on behaviorist principles. Skinner continued his pioneering work in psychology until his death on August 18, 1990, leaving behind a lasting impact on the understanding and manipulation of behavior. His insights into reinforcement schedules, learning processes, and operant conditioning continue to be fundamental concepts in modern psychology and behavioral sciences.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Behavior is a function of its consequences."

B.F. Skinner's quote, "Behavior is a function of its consequences," suggests that our actions are primarily shaped by the results or outcomes they produce. In other words, we tend to repeat behaviors that have positive or rewarding outcomes, while avoiding those that result in negative or punishing consequences. This perspective, rooted in behaviorist psychology, emphasizes the importance of reinforcement and punishment in shaping human behavior.

"Motivation shapes behavior, but behavior also shapes motivation."

This quote emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between motivation and behavior. On one hand, our motivations drive us to act or behave in certain ways. On the other hand, our behaviors can also influence our future motivations. For example, if we achieve a goal (behavior), we may feel motivated to set and achieve new goals (motivation). Conversely, if we consistently engage in unproductive behavior, it may demotivate us and lead to further unproductive actions. In essence, motivation fuels behavior, but the outcomes of our behavior can impact our future motivations, creating a continuous cycle.

"The individual who achieved his aspirations has won a battle. The type of man he became in the process is the real hero."

This quote by B.F. Skinner emphasizes that achieving personal goals (aspirations) is significant, but it's the personal growth and transformation one undergoes during the pursuit of those aspirations that truly makes a person a 'hero'. The implication is that the process of striving towards a goal, overcoming obstacles, learning, and evolving as an individual is what defines character and true success.

"A prison is a place where the air is full of psychological radiation which can be caught up by strangers and make them sick."

This quote by B.F. Skinner suggests that the negative or oppressive environment of a prison - characterized by punishment, control, and restriction - can have detrimental psychological effects that extend beyond its immediate inhabitants. Just as radiation from a physical source can make people sick, the "psychological radiation" (or mental contamination) within a prison can cause harm to those who come into contact with it, symbolizing the profound impact that oppressive social structures and environments can have on individuals' mental wellbeing.

"If men defined situations as real, they are real in their consequences."

This quote by B.F. Skinner suggests that our perception of reality significantly influences the outcomes we experience. If we believe a situation to be true or significant, it has the power to shape our behaviors and, consequently, the results we encounter. In other words, our subjective understanding of a situation can make it objectively real in terms of its impact on us.

Behavior used to be reinforced by great deprivation; if people weren't hungry, they wouldn't work. Now we are committed to feeding people whether they work or not. Nor is money as great a reinforcer as it once was. People no longer work for punitive reasons, yet our culture offers no new satisfactions.

- B. F. Skinner

Used, Reasons, Punitive, Deprivation

The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.

- B. F. Skinner

Controls, Benefits, Ideal, Coercion

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

- B. F. Skinner

Education, Been, Learned, Forgotten

If you insist that individual rights are the summum bonum, then the whole structure of society falls down.

- B. F. Skinner

Individual, Whole, Then, Insist

I believe that I have been basically anarchistic, anti-religion and anti-industry and business. In other words, anti-bureaucracy. I would like to see people behave well without having to have priests stand by, politicians stand by, or people collecting bills.

- B. F. Skinner

Believe, Other, Been, In Other Words

I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That's what life is.

- B. F. Skinner

Life, My Life, Always, Decisions

Even the mundane task of washing dishes by hand is an example of the small tasks and personal activities that once filled people's daily lives with a sense of achievement.

- B. F. Skinner

Achievement, Small, Lives, Daily Lives

The environment will continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are abandoned.

- B. F. Skinner

Environment, Will, Continue, Practices

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.

- B. F. Skinner

Society, Individual, Attacks, Helpless

Must we wait for selection to solve the problems of overpopulation, exhaustion of resources, pollution of the environment and a nuclear holocaust, or can we take explicit steps to make our future more secure? In the latter case, must we not transcend selection?

- B. F. Skinner

Wait, More, Overpopulation, Case

The feeling of being interested can act as a kind of neurological signal, directing us to fruitful areas of inquiry.

- B. F. Skinner

Kind, Act, Inquiry, Signal

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

- B. F. Skinner

Technology, Problem, Think, Machines

You can get along very well in this world by simply coming up with a quantity of reasonably valid statements.

- B. F. Skinner

Quantity, Very, Statements, Reasonably

I'm very pessimistic.

- B. F. Skinner

Very, Pessimistic

I won't say that I'm an agnostic, since agnosticism maintains that one cannot know... but I'm not averse to the idea of some intelligence or some organizing force that set up the initial conditions of the universe in such a way that ultimately generated stars, planets and life.

- B. F. Skinner

Space, Some, Averse, Such A Way

I never really expected to be controversial.

- B. F. Skinner

Never, Expected, Really, Controversial

Those few people who do respond to the dire conditions of the future - journalists, environmentalists, behavioral scientists - tend not to be powerful.

- B. F. Skinner

People, Journalists, Tend, Dire

I don't think my mother and father ever had any doubts about what I was to be punished for or not. My parents come from a very strictly defined culture.

- B. F. Skinner

Doubts, Mother And Father, Defined

When you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.

- B. F. Skinner

Study, Drop, Else, Everything Else

I think my novel, 'Walden Two,' has made people stop and look at the culture they have inherited and wonder if it is the last word or whether it can be changed.

- B. F. Skinner

Think, Last, I Think, Changed

I remember when I was a freshman in college, I was still somewhat bothered by... worried... about religion. I remember going to this professor of philosophy and telling him that I had lost my faith.

- B. F. Skinner

College, I Remember, Telling, Worried

I have to tell people that they are not responsible for their behavior. They're not creating it; they're not initiating anything. It's all found somewhere else. That's an awful lot to relinquish.

- B. F. Skinner

Awful Lot, Somewhere Else, Relinquish

Religions work for their own aggrandizement - strengthen the church and so on - and they use reinforcers of one kind or another to get obedience and so on from their communicants.

- B. F. Skinner

Work, Kind, Use, Strengthen

Great scientific contributions have been techniques.

- B. F. Skinner

Scientific, Been, Techniques, Contributions

The people who control the condition in which we live have no reason to think beyond more than the next five or 10 years.

- B. F. Skinner

Reason, Next, Which, No Reason

Give me a child and I'll shape him into anything.

- B. F. Skinner

Me, Give, Shape, Give Me

A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.

- B. F. Skinner

Failure, Mistake, Always, Simply

A person who has been punished is not less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.

- B. F. Skinner

Been, Given, Learns, Punished

What is sought can never produce the seeking.

- B. F. Skinner

Never, Produce, Sought, Seeking

The environment shapes people's actions.

- B. F. Skinner

People, Environment, Actions, Shapes

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.