Skinner’s Quote of the Day

Whenever we present a state of affairs which is known to be reinforcing at a given level of deprivation, we must suppose that conditioning takes place even though we have…

To say that a reinforcement is contingent upon a response may mean nothing more than that it follows the response . . . conditioning takes place presumably because of the…

One difficulty lies in accounting for behavior which arises in “anticipation” of a future event. Since a stimulus which has not yet occurred cannot act as a cause, we must…

Anxiety has at least two defining characteristics: (1) it is an emotional state, somewhat resembling fear, and (2) the disturbing stimulus which is principally responsible does not precede or accompany…

... the magnitude of the response in an operant is not a measure of its strength. Some other measure must be devised, and from the definition of an operant it…

But there is also a kind of response which occurs spontaneously in the absence of any stimulation with which it may be specifically correlated ... It is the nature of…

There is, first, the kind of response which is made to specific stimulation, where the correlation between response and stimulus is a reflex in the traditional sense. I shall refer…

Our rule that the generic term may be used only when its experimental reality has been verified will not admit the possibility of an ancillary principle, available in and peculiar…

. . . the difficulty [with traditional psychological terms] will become apparent whenever his experiments are repeated by someone with another set of private defining properties . . . (p.…

[The] restriction upon the use of the popular vocabulary in behaviorism is often not felt because the partial legitimacy of the popular term frequently results in some experimental consistency. (pp.…

. . . the existence of a popular term does create some presumption in favor of the existence of a corresponding experimentally real concept. But this does not free us…

The generic nature of stimulus and response is in no sense a justification for the broader terms of the popular vocabulary. We may lay it down as a general rule…

The analysis of behavior is not an act of arbitrary subdividing, and we cannot define the concepts of stimulus and response quite as simply as “parts of behavior and environment”…

... we may now take that more humble view of explanation and causation which seems to have been first suggested by Mach and is now a common characteristic of scientific…

As a scientific discipline, [the description of behavior] must describe the event not only for itself but in its relation to other events; and, in point of satisfaction, it must…

The definition of the subject matter of any science, however, is determined largely by the interest of the scientist, and this will be our safest rule here. We are interested…

Lacking some arbitrary distinction, the term behavior must include the total activity of the organism—the functioning of all its parts. Obviously, its proper application is much less general, but it…

Psychological facts remain on the plane of the physical and biological. (p. 476)

The operational analysis of Sherrington’s synapse and the more generalized statement . . . in which I suggested that C.N.S. might be taken to stand for the Conceptual Nervous System,…

It is possible that our current aggrandizement of the individual will obscure the possibility of building a better way of life. (p. 474)

Perhaps human behavior can be controlled via the environment, but who will exert the control? . . . What [those who ask that question] should be asking is: “What kinds…

Governments still hold the individual responsible and are said to be best if they govern least, because a person is then free to behave well because of inner virtues. All…

And industry still selects workers who are industrious, skilled, and careful; it has not given serious attention to the design of contingencies under which everyone works hard and carefully and…

In psychotherapy, the medical analogy persists: the problem is mental illness, and it is the patient who must be cured. The therapist tries to reach his patient by making an…

Social scientists have not yet fully understood the significance of the behavioristic position. Most of them still look for solutions to their problems inside the people they study. (pp. 472-473)

New practices in child care, in the management of institutionalized retardates and psychotics, in individual psychotherapy, in classroom management, in the design of incentive systems in industry and elsewhere are…

It is hard to imagine a group of young people more completely out of control of the culture of their country [than young offenders living in a school for juvenile…

Behavior traditionally attributed to loyalty or disloyalty, affection or disaffection, commitment or anomie, is the product of specifiable contingencies. (p. 471)

The consequences of participating in government are also important. What is the effect of casting a vote? (p. 471)

If a young person does not work productively, it is not because he does not like his job or is lazy; it is because the contingencies are defective. His feeling…

If a young person often stays away from school or drops out, it is not because he is shiftless, or lacks curiosity, or is dull; it is because the contingencies…

What happens when a student behaves well toward his teachers and other students, and what happens when he behaves badly? Does he study mainly to avoid the consequences of not…

Alienation is not a state of mind; it is a state of behavior attributable to defective contingencies of reinforcement. What is felt is a by-product. (p. 470)

How reinforcing is a young person’s home simply as a physical place? How does it look or sound or smell? How often do other members of his family reinforce him…

Some extremely complex contingencies have been analyzed, and the results help in interpreting some of the contingencies which prevail in daily life. (p. 470)

The behaviorist is often said to treat behavior simply as response to stimuli, but that view has long been out of date. Three things must be taken into account: the…

It has long been recognized that some effects of a person’s behavior are satisfying or rewarding, but a special significance is emphasized when we call these effects “reinforcing”: they strengthen…

One fact has become particularly clear: people do things because of the consequences. (p. 470)

In hundreds of laboratories throughout the world, complex environments are arranged and their effects studied. The evidence grows more and more convincing that a person behaves as he does because…

By turning directly to the environmental history, rather than to its perceived or felt effects, we may take advantage of certain recent advances in the experimental analysis of behavior. (p.…

The feeling or state of mind seems to be a necessary link in a causal chain, but the fact is that we change behavior by changing the environment, and, in…

By reinforcing nonverbal and verbal behavior in particular ways, we change what a person says or does, but what he says or does is not due to his opinions or…

By responding in certain ways to what a person does, we may change the behavior from which we infer that he does not feel wanted, and it is quite possible…

According to [the traditional] explanation [of behavior problems], our task is to correct disturbed personalities, change troubled states of mind, make people feel wanted, give them purpose or a sense…

I shall argue, in short, that the social sciences are not more effective precisely because they are not fully behavioral, and for that reason not really scientific, and for that…

An expanding population will exhaust our resources and pollute the environment and sooner or later (sooner if we suffer a nuclear holocaust) put an end to the kind of world…

The first guess in a series of five, as in the Zenith experiments, is apparently controlled by an abiding preference, by biased preliminary conditions, or by trivial circumstances which cancel…

Guessing is a special kind of (usually verbal) behavior in which two or more responses are about equally likely to be emitted. (p. 455)

To speak of a series of five guesses as a single organized act is perhaps in line with one trend in modern psychology, but a possible alternative view, in which…

The confusion which seems to have arisen from a principle which is supposed to eliminate confusion is discouraging. (p. 430)