Skinner’s Quote of the Day

Philosophers have often insisted that we are not aware of a difference until it makes a difference, and experimental evidence is beginning to accumulate in support of the view that…

A comprehensive set of causal relations stated with the greatest possible precision is the best contribution which we, as students of behavior, can make in the co-operative venture of giving…

The task of physiology is not to find hungers, fears, habits, instincts, personalities, psychic energy, or acts of willing, attending, repressing, and so on . . . Its task is…

The practical criteria of prediction and control will force us to take into account the complete causal chain in every instance. Such a program is not concerned with establishing the…

What is needed is an operational definition of terms. This means more than simple translation. The operational method is commonly misused to patch up and preserve concepts which are cherished…

No matter how we may wish to represent such a sequence of causal events, we cannot satisfy the requirements of interpretation, prediction, or control unless we go back to events…

Although speculation about what goes on within the organism seems to show a concern for completing a causal chain, in practice it tends to have the opposite effect. Chains are…

A man may walk down the street in precisely the same way upon two occasions, although in one instance he is out for exercise and in another he is going…

In any event, the newly conceived organism begins at once to be influenced by its environment; and when it comes into full contact with the external world, environmental forces assume…

Among the conditions which affect behavior, hereditary factors occupy a primary position, at least chronologically. (p. 308)

The study of behavior, psychotic or otherwise, remains securely in the company of the natural sciences so long as we take as our subject matter the observable activity of the…

The study of human behavior is, of course, still in its infancy, and it would be rash to suppose that anyone can foresee the structure of a well-developed and successful…

In the long run, of course, mere interpretation is not enough. If we have achieved a true scientific understanding of man, we should be able to prove this in the…

Of all the myriad aspects of behavior which present themselves to observation, which are worth watching? Which will prove most useful in establishing functional relations? . . . Frequency of…

Within a limited experimental arrangement, my colleagues and I have been able to demonstrate a lawfulness in behavior which seems to us quite remarkable. (p. 304)

The object [of my research] has been to discover the functional relations which prevail between measurable aspects of behavior and various conditions and events in the life of the organism.…

It is fairly easy to get another person onto an arbitrarily chosen topic during a conversation by showing attention when the topic is being approached and inattention when it is…

Several experiments are now in the literature in which an interviewer has skillfully shaped, by very slight reinforcements and punishments, the verbal behavior of the person being interviewed. (p. 302)

It will be recalled that the old introspective psychologist had a trained observer, but it is now clear that in training him the psychologist was definitely shaping the way in…

We acquire the vocabulary which describes our own behavior under great difficulty. The verbal community which can easily teach a child to distinguish colors, for example, cannot with the same…

It is reasonable to suppose that such an experimental science will eventually produce a technology capable of modifying and sustaining any given pattern of behavior almost at will. (p. 299)

Recent work in the field of learning has enabled the psychologist to achieve an extensive control over the behavior of an organism, and to bring this behavior under the control…

Modes of behavior characteristic of mental disease may be simply the result of a history of reinforcement, an unusual condition of deprivation or satiation, or an emotionally exciting circumstance. (p.…

Of special importance in the field of mental disease are many forms of behavior resulting from the use of punishment as a measure of control. It is now clear that…

Freud appears never to have considered the possibility of bringing the concepts and theories of a psychological science into contact with the rest of physical and biological science by the…

Freud’s contribution has been widely misunderstood. The important point was not that the individual was often unable to describe important aspects of his own behavior or identify important causal relationships…

There are many words in the layman’s vocabulary which suggest the activity of an organism yet are not descriptive of behavior in the narrower sense . . . We say…

In spite of Freud’s valuable analysis of verbal slips and of the techniques of wit and verbal art, he rejected the possibility of an analysis of verbal behavior in its…

Inevitably, [Freud’s mental apparatus] stole the show. Little attention was left to behavior per se. Behavior was relegated to the position of a mere mode of expression of the activities…

In the process of therapy, the analyst necessarily acts upon the patient only through physical means . . . Nevertheless, it is commonly assumed that the mental apparatus is being…

By arguing that the individual organism simply reacts to its environment, rather than to some inner experience of that environment, the bifurcation of nature into physical and psychic can be…

Freud, himself, however, did not appeal to the inner apparatus to account for spontaneity or caprice because he was a thoroughgoing determinist. (p 287)

Freud’s explanatory scheme followed a traditional pattern of looking for a cause of human behavior inside the organism. His medical training supplied him with powerful supporting analogies. (p. 287)

There is an alternative view [to the one held by some of Freud’s followers], however, which holds that Freud did not discover the mental apparatus but rather invented it, borrowing…

No matter what logicians may eventually make of this mental apparatus, there is little doubt that Freud accepted it as real rather than as a scientific construct or theory. One…

Freud demonstrated that many features of behavior hitherto unexplained—and often dismissed as hopelessly complex or obscure—could be shown to be the product of circumstances in the history of the individual.…

No matter how bad a teacher may be, he has at least one available reinforcer—dismissing his class . . . He should wait until the behavior of the class is…

Many problems in classroom management arise because the teacher reinforces students when they behave in objectionable ways . . . The teacher tends to do so “naturally,” and he will…

Laboratory or classroom practice in operant conditioning gives the teacher the confidence he needs to change behavior in less immediate but more effective ways. (p. 280)

The training of a teacher should begin with basic principles. Everyone who intends to be a teacher should have a chance to see learning take place or, better, to produce…

. . . we are on the verge of a new educational “method”—a new pedagogy—in which the teacher will emerge as a skilled behavioral engineer. (p. 279)

Students reinforced on a variable-ratio schedule will show a fantastic dedication if the schedule has been properly programmed. They will work for long periods of time with no reinforcement whatsoever,…

No one is ever actually reinforced by remote consequences, but rather by mediating reinforcers which have acquired their power through some connection with them. (p. 279)

. . . adults put jigsaw puzzles together and work crossword puzzles for no more obvious reason than that they come out right. In a good program the student makes…

Given the right conditions men will learn—not because they want to, but because, as the result of the genetic endowment of the species, contingencies bring about changes in behavior. (p.…

Studies of operant reinforcement differ from earlier studies of learning by emphasizing the maintenance as well as the acquisition of behavior. (p. 275)

Behavioral objectives remove much of the mystery from education, and teachers may feel demeaned when their task is reduced to less awesome dimensions. But the loss is more than offset…

What is the student to do as the result of having been taught? (p. 274)

Quite complex forms of behavior can be generated, often with surprising speed, through a series of stages leading to the terminal specifications. One actually “sees learning take place,” and the…

The step-by-step shaping of complex behavior was first demonstrated in an experimental analysis, and the technique is probably still best seen in experiments with animals. (p. 274)