Skinner’s Quote of the Day

"The teleological problem is, of course, not solved until we have answered certain questions: what gives an action its purpose, what leads an organism to expect to have an effect,…

"Some effects seem to throw light on the behavior which produces them, but their explanatory role has been clouded by the fact that they follow the behavior and therefore raise…

"We ignore some things for the sake of studying others, but we do not ignore them permanently. They will be studied in their turn." (p. 103)   Subscribe to RSS…

"The experimental analysis of behavior is, of course, an analysis. The environment in which human behavior is observed is usually simplified so that one aspect (or at most a very…

"Although it is sometimes said that research on lower animals makes it impossible to discover what is distinctly human, it is only by studying the behavior of lower animals that…

"In both [geophysics and the experimental analysis of behavior], principles derived from research conducted under the favorable conditions of the laboratory are used to give a plausible account of facts…

"The use of concepts and laws derived from an experimental analysis in the interpretation of daily life is also a source of misunderstanding. An analogy from another science may be…

"An experimental analysis of behavior is necessarily a science in progress. The assertion that it cannot explain some aspect of behavior must be qualified with the phrase “as of this…

"Man may be foolish enough to set off a nuclear holocaust—not by design but by one of those accidents which are so much admired by those who oppose design." (p.…

"The need for an effective technology of behavior is obvious enough. Every generation seems to believe that the world is going to the dogs, but (to be ethological for a…

"In the long run, the effective management of human affairs will probably require a change in the way in which everyone thinks about himself and those with whom he comes…

"The scientific method which has made [the experimental analysis of behavior] successful in the laboratory makes it almost immediately available for practical purposes. It is not concerned with testing theories…

"Psychology as a basic science has failed to supply a conception which recommends itself to specialists in other fields of human behavior." (p. 96)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"When Freud first turned from biology to psychology, he wrote to a friend: “What horrifies me more than anything else is all the psychology I shall have to read in…

"The psychological literature contains a prodigious number of charts, graphs, tables, and equations reporting quantitative relations among unimportant or useless variables. Much of this may be attributed to professional contingencies…

"Behavior as a dependent variable is often neglected when the investigator turns his attention to internal processes, real or fancied." (p. 92)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"An emphasis on topography of behavior at the expense of controlling relations is an example of the Formalistic Fallacy. It is common in linguistics and psycholinguistics." (p. 89)   Subscribe…

"An operant must behave like one; it must undergo orderly changes in probability when independent variables are manipulated." (p. 89)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"Controllable variables are . . . lacking when behavior is predicted from other behavior. The tests used in mental measurement evoke samples of behavior from which characteristics of similar behavior,…

"Uncontrollable independent variables. The ethologists study behavior as a function of species status. A graylag goose behaves in a given way because it is a graylag goose. To change the…

"[Bixenstine] suggests that the optimism [in all behavior science] springs from release from the anxiety of theory construction. There is a more obvious explanation: the analysis works." (p. 86)  …

"Patience with respect to unexplored parts of a field is particularly important in a science of behavior because, as part of our own subject matter, we may be overwhelmed by…

". . . a smooth curve showing a change in probability of a response as a function of a controlled variable is a fact in the bag, and there is…

"In addition to the systematic manipulation of contingencies, the interpretation of human affairs is a rich source of suggestions for experiments. Do conditions detected in some episode in daily life…

"A study of schedules of reinforcement . . . can proceed in a rather Baconian fashion, . . . the “theory,” if any, being concerned with what organisms will do…

"The experimental control of variables is emphasized rather than a later evaluation of their presumed importance through statistical analyses. The number of organisms studied is usually much smaller than in…

"[In the experimental analysis of behavior,] relations among dependent and independent variables are seldom explored according to a prior “experimental design,” as R. A. Fisher used that term. The null…

"Describing a set of contingencies in instructions to the subject is no substitute for exposing the subject to the contingencies, particularly when they need to be programmed." (p. 80)  …

"One task of an experimental analysis is to discover all the variables of which probability of response is a function." (p.78)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"Rate of responding is a basic dimension, not simply because responses can be accurately counted, but because rate is relevant to the central concern of a science of behavior." (p.…

"To discriminate is not to respond but to respond differently to two or more stimuli." (p. 76)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"Like probability, rate of responding would be a meaningless concept if it were not possible to specify topography of response in such a way that separate instances of an operant…

"A natural datum in a science of behavior is the probability that a given bit of behavior will occur at a given time. An experimental analysis deals with that probability…

"[According to cultural norms] . . . innocent activities like card playing or dancing or simply doing nothing should certainly be left to the individual. But the question is: Can they…

"It simply happens that when the environment has been altered so that major reinforcers are no longer powerful, lesser reinforcers take over." (p. 68)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"Money is the archetypal generalized reinforcer, and men are reinforced by it even when they do not exchange it for other things. The possibility of a generalized negative reinforcement must…

"The trouble with both affluent and welfare societies is that reinforcers are not contingent on behavior. Men who are not reinforced for doing anything do little or nothing . .…

"For more than two hundred years talented and skillful men have worked to create a device which will powerfully reinforce the behavior of pressing keys. (The piano, is, indeed, an…

"The world in which man lives has been changing much faster than man himself. In a few hundred generations, highly beneficial characteristics of the human body have become troublesome. One…

"(The doctrine of survival after death is a source of personal reinforcers appropriate only to an earlier design.) (p. 48)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"A scientific analysis of human behavior and of genetic and cultural evolution cannot make individual freedom the goal of cultural design. The individual is not an origin or source. He…

"By accepting the fact that human behavior is controlled—by things if not by men—we take a big step forward, for we can then stop trying to avoid control and begin…

"The notion of personal credit is incompatible with the hypothesis that human behavior is wholly determined by genetic and environmental forces." (p. 45)   Subscribe to RSS feed here

"Design implies control, and there are many reasons why we fear it. The very techniques are often objectionable, for control passes first to those who have the power to treat…

"The man who insists upon judging a culture in terms of whether or not he likes it is the true immoralist . . . He is like the child who…

"The problem, in short, is not to design a way of life which will be liked by men as they now are, but a way of life which will be…

"Why should I care whether my way of life survives or contributes to the way of life of the future?” An honest answer would seem to be, “There is no…

"When a member of a herd of grazing animals spots the approach of a predator and utters a warning cry, the group is more likely to escape and survive, but…

"An important point is that effective contingencies need to be programmed—that is, they are effective only when a person has passed through a series of intermediate contingencies." (pp. 39-40)  …

"The rule-following contingencies [of a culture] are often un-skillfully designed, and members of a culture seldom take net consequences into account. On the contrary, they resist control of this sort.…