B. F. Skinner

B.F. Skinner B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential theorists in modern psychology. His work was very important and has been studied by many for years. Skinner was a very straightforward man and a very educated man. His theories have helped mankind in many ways. He has studied the behavior patterns of many living organisms. Skinner was a well-published writer. His work has been published in many journals. He also has written many books on behaviorism. His most important work was the study of behaviorism. First began by John B. Watson, behaviorism is one of the most widely studied theories today. B.F. Skinner and His Influence in Psychology B.F. Skinner was one of the most famous of the American psychologists. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1904. Skinner was the father of modern behaviorism. Skinner did not get into psychology until he was in graduate school at Harvard. He was driven to Psychology after reading about the experiments of Watson and Pavlov. He received his doctoral degree in three years and taught at the University of Minnesota and the University of Indiana and finally returned to his alma mater at Harvard. Skinner contributed to psychological behaviorism by performing experiments that linked behaviors with terms commonly used to describe mental states. Skinner was responsible for some famous experiments such as the “Skinner box”. Skinner also wrote some very famous books. One of them was “The Behavior of Organisms”. This book describes the basic points of his system. Another was Walden Two. This book describes a utopian society that functions on positive reinforcement. Skinner was a very productive person until his death in 1990 at the age of 86. Behaviorism is a school of thought in psychology that is interested in observable behavior. Skinner said, “Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the philosophy of that science.“ There are various types of behavior, such as innate behavior. Innate behaviors are certain behaviors that we are born with, such as eating when we are hungry and sleeping when we are tired. Early Life Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1904 to William Arthur and Grace Madge Skinner. Skinner also had a younger brother named Edmond James Skinner, born November 6, 1906. At the young age of sixteen, Edmond died of a cerebral aneurysm. . ... ... middle of paper ... ...nd that behavior is modifiable. In another of Skinner’s famous works he talks about his three-part thesis on human behavior. He believed that biology, genotype, and conditioning all work together in natural selection and in the development of social environments. His life was going very well, He had a good family, two children and wife. He also had a good job teaching Psychology at his alma mater, Harvard University. Before his death in 1990 when he died at the age of 86 of leukemia that he had contracted when he was younger. Even when he was dying he still delivered a paper to the American Psychological Association. His work and theories always will be looked at and studied. B.F. Skinner was one of the most important American psychologists ever. He was known as the father of operant conditioning. Skinner’s experiments have paved the way for many ideas and theories that may be developed by future generation psychologists. He was responsible for writing many books that also have helped in understanding behaviorism. He tried to explain how human behavior would change if the environment were manipulated. In my opinion, Skinner was one of the most well known psychologists.