Recent Issues. Chapter 2: The Origins of Cognitive Thought. Quote 2

Post author:B. F. Skinner Foundation
Post published:November 6, 2018
Post category:Skinner's Quote of the Day

“As an experimental analysis has shown, behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences, but only by consequences that lie in the past.” (p. 15)

Subscribe to RSS feed here

All proceeds support the B. F. Skinner Foundation and enable us to continue our important work. Thank you to all of current and previous donors for helping us continue our mission of Better Behavioral Science for a More Humane World!

Please consider donating to the B. F. Skinner Foundation. Right now, there are ten thousand additional reasons to help us in achieving our worthy cause: Better Behavioral Science for a More Humane World! Thanks to a generous pledge, the first $10,000 in donations made during this drive will be matched. That means that your donation will make twice the impact!
Please click the DONATE button, mail in a contribution, or add a donation to a purchase you make from our store.

The newest addition to the Skinner for the 21st Century series, Science and Human Behaivor: Extended Edition, is available to preorder in hard cover! A PDF version of the book is also available.

SKINNER'S QUOTE OF THE DAY

Verbal Behavior: Extended Edition. Chapter 4: Verbal Behavior under the Control of Verbal Stimuli. Quote 16
Echoic responses are useful and reinforced when they serve as fill-ins. In answer to the question What will happen to the international situation during the next few weeks? the student may begin During the next few weeks, the international situation…, which may be purely echoic but, especially if the situation demands speed, self-reinforcing if it provides a breathing space for the composition of the rest of the sentence. (p. 57)
[…]

“As an experimental analysis has shown, behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences, but only by consequences that lie in the past.” (p. 15)

You Might Also Like

Verbal Behavior: Extended Edition. Chapter 1: A Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Quote 24

Science and Human Behavior, Chapter 2 A Science of Behavior?, Quote 11

Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 8: Behaviorism at fifty. Quote 11