On January 4, 2016, the B. F. Skinner Foundation launched a new project – Skinner’s Quote of the Day. Quotes from B. F. Skinner’s works, selected by renowned scientists, appear daily Monday-Friday in order, starting with Chapter 1 of each book and running all the way through the last chapter. We started with the Science and Human Behavior (January-December 2916), followed by About Behaviorism (January-November 2017), Contingencies of Reinforcement (January-October 2018), Recent Issues (October 2018-May 2019), Reflections on Behaviorism and Society (May 2019-February 2020), and now moving on to Upon Further Reflection (from February 10 2020).

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Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Chapter 1: A Technology of Behavior. Quote 13

Almost everyone who is concerned with human affairs—as political scientist, philosopher, man of letters, econo­mist, psychologist, linguist, sociologist, theologian, anthro­pologist, educator, or psychotherapist—continues to talk about human behavior in this…

Continue ReadingBeyond Freedom and Dignity. Chapter 1: A Technology of Behavior. Quote 13

Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 13

If we are to predict behavior (and possibly to control it), we must deal with probability of response. The business of a science of behavior is to evaluate this probability…

Continue ReadingCumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 13

Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 12

Progress in a scientific field usually waits upon the discovery of a satisfactory dependent variable. Until such a variable has been discovered, we resort to theory. (p. 75)

Continue ReadingCumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 12

Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 11

Rate of responding appears to be the only datum which varies significantly and in the expected direction under conditions which are relevant to the “learning process.” (p. 75)

Continue ReadingCumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 11

Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 6

A science of behavior must eventually deal with behavior in its relation to certain manipulable variables. Theories—whether neural, mental, or conceptual—talk about intervening steps in these relationships. But instead of…

Continue ReadingCumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 6

Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 5

It would be foolhardy to deny the achievements of theories . . . in the history of science. The question of whether they are necessary, however, has other implications and…

Continue ReadingCumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 5

Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7:  Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 2

Certain statements are also theories simply to the extent that they are not yet facts. A scientist may guess at the result of an experiment before the experiment is carried…

Continue ReadingCumulative Record: Definitive Edition (1999). Chapter 7:  Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 2