Burrhus Frederic Skinner
(March 20, 1904 ? August 18, 1990) was a leading
American
psychologist
and author.
Skinner was the leading
behaviorist
in psychology; he built on the work of
John B. Watson
, and added the idea of
operant conditioning
. These two American psychologists paid no attention to
mental
states and '
thinking
' (terms they thought were unscientific), but dealt only with visible behaviors. Skinner's work had effects on education (
programmed learning
) and on
behavior therapy
for various psychological problems. He was the
Edgar Pierce
Professor of Psychology at
Harvard University
from 1958 until his retirement in 1974, and then Emeritus Professor until 1990.
[1]
Skinner was also a
social
philosopher who wanted to change society, and wrote a
eutopian
novel,
[2]
in which the science of human behavior is used to eliminate poverty, sexual oppression, government as we know it, and create a lifestyle without war.
[3]
He wrote poetry,
[4]
and three volumes of
autobiography
.
Skinner was born in
Susquehanna
,
Pennsylvania
to Grace and William Skinner.
[5]
His father was a lawyer. Skinner became an
atheist
after a liberal Christian teacher tried to assuage his fear of the
Hell
that his grandmother described.
- "Within a year I had gone to Miss Graves to tell her that I no longer believed in God. 'I know,' she said, 'I have been through that myself.' But her strategy misfired: I never went through it".
[6]
Skinner attended Harvard University after receiving his
B.A.
in English literature in 1926. After graduation, he spent a year at his parents' home in
Scranton
attempting to become a writer of fiction. He tried to become a writer in Greenwich Village. He soon became disillusioned with his literary skills and concluded that he had little world experience and no strong personal perspective from which to write. His encounter with
John B. Watson
's
Behaviorism
led him into graduate study in psychology and to the development of his own operant behaviorism.
Skinner received a
PhD
from Harvard in 1931, and remained there as a researcher until 1936. He then taught at the
University of Minnesota
at Minneapolis and later at
Indiana University
, where he was chair of the psychology department from 1946?1947. He returned to Harvard in 1948, and stayed there for the rest of his career.
In 1936, Skinner married Yvonne Blue. The couple had two daughters, Julie (m. Vargas) and Deborah (m. Buzan). He died of
leukemia
on August 18, 1990, and is buried in
Mount Auburn Cemetery
,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
.
[7]
- 1938.
The behavior of organisms: an experimental analysis
.
ISBN
1-58390-007-1
,
ISBN
0-87411-487-X
- 1948.
Walden Two
.
ISBN
0-02-411510-X
- 1953.
Science and human behavior
.
ISBN
0-02-929040-6
- 1957.
Schedules of reinforcement
, with C.B. Ferster.
ISBN
0-13-792309-0
- 1957.
Verbal behavior
.
ISBN
1-58390-021-7
- 1961.
The analysis of behavior: a program for self instruction
, with James G. Holland. This self-instruction book is no longer in print, but the B.F. Skinner Foundation web site has an interactive version.
ISBN
0-07-029565-4
- 1968.
The technology of teaching
. New York: Appleton-Century-Croft.
- 1969.
Contingencies of reinforcement: a theoretical analysis
.
ISBN
0-390-81280-3
- 1971.
Beyond freedom and dignity
.
ISBN
0-394-42555-3
- 1974.
About behaviorism
.
ISBN
0-394-49201-3
;
ISBN
0-394-71618-3
- 1978.
Reflections on behaviorism and society
.
ISBN
0-13-770057-1
- 1980.
Notebooks
, edited by Robert Epstein.
ISBN
0-13-624106-9
- 1982.
Skinner for the Classroom
, edited by R. Epstein.
ISBN
0-87822-261-8
- 1983.
Enjoy old age: a program of self-management
. (with M.E. Vaughan)
- 1987.
Upon further reflection
.
ISBN
0-13-938986-5
- 1989.
Recent issues in the analysis of behavior
.
ISBN
0-675-20674-X
- 1959, 1961, 1972 and 1999.
Cumulative Record: a selection of papers
, as
Cumulative Record: definitive edition
. This book includes a reprint of Skinner's October 1945 Ladies' Home Journal article,
Baby in a Box
, Skinner's original, personal account of the much-misrepresented 'Baby in a box' device.
ISBN
0-87411-969-3
(paperback)
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