Skinner’s Quote of the Day

... I have been wallowing in reminiscence lately in writing my autobiography. The trouble is that it takes you backward. You begin to live your life in the wrong direction.…

I have been guilty of . . . name-dropping myself when other reinforcers were in short supply . . . (p. 154)

... it is a mistake to say that we suffer from feelings. We suffer from the defective contingencies of reinforcement responsible for the feelings. (p. 154)

When the occasion for strong behavior is lacking or when reinforcing consequences no longer follow, we are bored, discouraged, and depressed. (p. 154)

The totalitarian state begins perhaps by merely restricting the control of the agencies under it, but it can eventually usurp their functions. (Skinner, 1953, p. 443)

Creative verbal behavior is not produced by exercising creativity; it is produced by skillful self-management. (p. 153)

"One of the more disheartening experiences of old age is discovering that a point you have just made—so significant, so beautifully expressed—was made in something you published a long time…

"I could have doubled my readership by calling this article “Cognitive Self-Management in Old Age.” Cognitive means so many things that it could scarcely fail to apply here. But I…

When I find myself saying “damn,” I know it is time to relax. (p. 151)

Old age is like fatigue, except that its effects cannot be corrected by relaxing or taking a vacation. (p. 150)

If the stages in our lives were due merely to the passage of time, we should have to find a fountain of youth to reverse the direction of change, but…

Much of what seems to be the unfolding of an inner potential is the product of an unfolding environment: A person’s world develops. The aging of a person as distinct…

In accepted usage, to develop is not simply to grow older but to unfold a latent structure, to realize an inner potential, to become more effective. (pp. 145-146)

"Developmentalism is a branch of structuralism in which the form, or topography, of behavior is studied as a function of time." (p. 145)

"As in any application of a behavioral analysis, the secret of successful verbal self-management is understanding what verbal behavior is all about." (p. 143)

"Samuel Butler’s comment that “a hen is simply an egg’s way of making another egg” holds for the human egg as well and for the poet." (p. 140)

"In a paper called “On ‘Having’ a Poem,” I compared a poet to a mother. Although the mother bears the child and we call it her child, she is not…

"I once gave what was supposed to be the same lecture to fifteen audiences. I used a good many slides that served as an outline, but I began to abbreviate…

"I once used E. G. Boring’s The Physical Dimensions of Consciousness as an instrument of self-management. I disagreed so violently with the author’s position that after reading a page or…

"Reading what somebody else has said about you sometimes strengthens behavior, since one is seldom at loss for words in a warm discussion." (p. 138)

"The best reason for liking what you have written is that it says what you have to say." (p. 138)

"Suppose you are at your desk two hours a day and produce on the average 50 words an hour. That is not much, but it is about 35,000 words a…

"For years, an electric clock on my desk ran only when the light was on, and I added a point to a cumulative record whenever the clock completed twelve hours.…

"The great generalized reinforcer, money, is usually poorly contingent upon behavior at your desk. It controls too effectively when a writer begins to write only the kinds of things that…

"The results [of aversive control] are not always bad. Many famous writers have worked mostly under aversive pressure. Balzac wrote only when he needed money, Dostoevski only in return for…

"A familiar example [of aversive control] is the pause in conversation that must be filled and that leads, too often, to verbal behavior about trivia—the weather, the latest news, what…

" “More than one history in one lifetime leads to multiple selves, no one of which can be said to be the real you. The writer of fiction profits from…

"One of the most widely reprinted and translated papers of mine, “Freedom and the Control of Men,” was first written almost entirely in the form of notes. When I was…

"It may be a mistake to try to do too much [writing] at first . . . It is enough to begin with short sessions, perhaps fifteen minutes a day.…

"As a result of [setting up a nice place to write and always write at the same time of the day], the setting almost automatically evokes verbal behavior. No warm-up…

"It is helpful to write always at the same time of the day. Scheduled obligations often raise problems, but an hour or two can almost always be found in the…

"A convenient place [for writing] is important. It should have all the facilities needed for the execution of writing . . . It should be a pleasant place and should…

"What about drugs? Alcohol? Tobacco? Marijuana? There are authentic cases of their productive effects in poetry and fiction, but very few in which they have had a good effect on…

"What verbal responses “express” are not preverbal ideas, but the past history and present circumstances of the speaker." (p. 132)

"If I have forgotten the key to my house and “it occurs to me” to look under the mat, it is not an idea that has occurred to me but…

"In the last chapter of Verbal Behavior, I argue that thinking is simply behaving, and it may not be too misleading to say that verbal responses do not express ideas…

"Verbal behavior begins almost always in spoken form. Even when we write, we usually speak first, either overtly or covertly. What goes down on paper is then a kind of…

"A culture that is not willing to accept scientific advances in the understanding of human behavior, together with the technology that emerges from these advances, will eventually be replaced by…

"Is our culture . . . at fault? [If so,] what is the next step?" (p. 128)

"Are behavioral scientists . . . at fault? No, a culture too strongly committed to the view that a technology of behavior is a threat to freedom and dignity is…

"Are schools of education and teachers’ colleges . . . at fault? No, they have not been given a theory of behavior that leads to effective teaching." (p. 128)

"Are teachers . . . at fault? No, they have not been properly taught to teach." (p. 128)

"Are students at fault when they do not learn? No, they have not been well taught." (p. 128)

"The report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education repeatedly mistakes causes for effects. It says that “the educational foundations of our society are being eroded by a rising…

"Burnout is usually regarded as the result of abusive treatment by students, but it can be as much the result of looking back upon a day in the classroom and…

"If given a chance, teachers can also be interesting and sympathetic companions. It is a difficult assignment in a classroom in which order is maintained by punitive sanctions." (p. 126)

"Students do not have to be made to study. Reinforcement is enough, and good programming provides it." (p. 126)

"A good program of instruction guarantees a great deal of successful action. Students do not need to have a natural interest in what they are doing, and subject matters do…

"It is characteristic of the human species that successful action is automatically reinforced. The fascination of video games is adequate proof." (p. 125)

"Punitive sanctions still survive, disguised in various ways, but the world is changing, and they are no longer easily imposed." (p. 125)