Into the Archives: BF Skinner is Dead

Dava Sobel comes bearing big news, you guys: B.F. Skinner is dead! Who knew, right? Well, anyways, the article was written in 1990, so at the time it was news. The NYT article "B.F. Skinner, the Champion Of Behaviorism, Is Dead at 86" was published on August 20, 1990. Click here to read all about the life and death of the famous Skinner. Love him or hate him, admit it: we've all learned something from him! (nudge, nudge)

Let's discuss, shall we? "Dr. Skinner advanced the belief that individuals could understand themselves and build a better world only through systematic modification of their behavior according to scientific principles he promulgated [def: promoted]." What do you think of the behaviorism philosophy of Skinner? Do you think that's the only way that we can change ourselves? 

Skinner became a behaviorist in the 20s, when the discipline was just in its infancy. He turned behaviorism into a behavioral psychology of laboratory science and as a philosophy. If you think about it, behaviorism is sort of a philosophy.. In order to get the sort of data that he did, Skinner conducted all sorts of experiments; some were more humane than others. He was sometimes seen as a "cold manipulator of humanity" whose ideas could have "disastrous consequences" if they fell into the wrong hands. What do you guys think? What he over-manipulative? Mad scientist or truth-seeker?

Everything was a behavior, according to this guy. Even thinking was a behavior- no matter how hard it was to observe and describe. 

Dr. Skinner's most important achievement was "his full explication of the theory of operant behavior." We know all about this from the book and class. Yay. In his 1938 book "The Behavior of Organisms," Skinner writes about "schedules of reinforcement" that sustain established behaviors. 

According to Skinner, punishment was ineffective in training animals, teaching children, or managing public offenders. Do you all think punishment is an effective tool?

Skinner - What do you think?

"All human beings are controlled, but 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." -BF Skinner

Skinner majored in English, wrote for the literary magazine, and dreamed of becoming a novelist. Robert Frost wrote encouraging words about his short stories! And yet... he said "I had no reason to write anything; I had nothing to say." Weird, right? Cool,though. Gotto love an English major! Apparently all his short stories paid careful attention to human behavior, which led him to apply to Harvard to become a psychologist. 

For more on Skinner, don't forget to read the article!