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B. F. SkinnerBurrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 - August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist and author. He conducted pioneering work on experimental psychology and advocated behaviorism, which seeks to understand behavior entirely as a function of environmental histories of reinforcement. He also wrote a number of controversial works in which he proposed the widespread use of psychological behavior modification techniques (primarily operant conditioning) in order to improve society and increase human happiness.
LifeSkinner was born in rural Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He attended Hamilton College in New York with the intention of becoming a writer and received a B.A. in English literature in 1926. After graduation, he spent a year in Greenwich Village attempting to become a writer of fiction, but he soon became disillusioned with his literary skills and concluded that he had little world experience and no strong personal perspective from which to write. During this time, which Skinner later called "the dark year," he chanced upon a copy of Bertrand Russell's Philosophy in which Russell discusses the behaviorist philosophy of psychologist John B. Watson. At the time, Skinner had begun to take more interest in the actions and behaviors of those around him, and some of his short stories had taken a "psychological" slant. He decided to abandon literature and seek admission as a graduate student in psychology at Harvard University (which at the time was not regarded as a leading institution in that field). Skinner received a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1931 and remained at that institution as a researcher until 1936. He then taught at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and later at Indiana University at Bloomington before returning to Harvard as a tenured professor in 1948. He remained there for the rest of his career. BehaviorismSkinner was mainly responsible for the development of the philosophy of radical behaviorism and for the further development of applied behavior analysis, a branch of psychology which aims to develop a unified theory of animal and human behavior based on principles of learning. He conducted research on shaping behavior through positive and negative reinforcement and demonstrated operant conditioning, a behavior modification technique which he developed in contrast with classical conditioning. Contrary to popular belief, Skinner did not advocate the use of punishment. His research suggested that punishment was an ineffective way of controlling behavior, leading generally to short-term behavior change, but resulting mostly in the subject attempting to avoid the punishing stimulus instead of avoiding the behavior that was causing punishment. An simple example of this is the failure of prison to eliminate criminal behavior. If prison (as a punishing stimulus) were effective at altering behavior, there would be no criminality, since the risk of imprisonment for criminal conduct is well established. However, individuals still commit offences, but attempt to avoid discovery and therefore punishment. The punishing stimulus does not stop criminal behaviour. The criminal simply becomes more sophisticated at avoiding the punishment. Superstition in the pigeonOne of Skinner's most famous and interesting experiments examined the formation of superstition in one of his favourite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behaviour". Whatever chance actions each bird had been performing as food was delivered, was strengthened, so the bird continued to perform the same actions:
The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behaviour and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behaviour. Rituals for changing one's luck at cards are good examples. A few accidental connections between a ritual and favourable consequences suffice to set up and maintain the behaviour in spite of many non-reinforced instances. The bowler who has released a ball down the alley but continues to behave as if he were controlling it by twisting and turning his arm and shoulder is another case in point. These behaviours have, of course, no real effect upon one's luck or upon a ball half way down an alley, just as in the present case the food would appear as often if the pigeon did nothing -- or, more strictly speaking, did something else. (Ibid.) Social engineeringSkinner is popularly known mainly for his controversial books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Walden Two describes a visit to an imaginary utopian commune in the 1940s United States, where the productivity and happiness of the citizens is far in advance of that in the outside world due to their practice of scientific social planning and the use of operant conditioning in the raising of children. Walden Two, like Thoreau's Walden champions a lifestyle that doesn't foster competition and social strife and doesn't support war. It favors and encourages a lifestyle of minimal consumption, rich social relationships, personal happiness, satisfying work and leisure. Beyond Freedom and Dignity advanced the thesis that obsolete social concepts, like free will and human dignity (by which Skinner meant belief in individual autonomy) stood in the way of greater human happiness and productivity. Skinner was just as opposed to inhumane treatment and bad government as many, and perhaps more than some, but he argued that the champions of freedom went so far as to deny causality in human action so they could champion the "free person". So the champions of freedom were, in a sense, the enemies of a scientific way of knowing. There is a rough parallel here to the book "Higher Supersitition " in the opposition to scientific knowlege, except Skinner here is being much more general. Dignity is the practice of giving individuals credit for their actions. To say "Skinner is brilliant" means that Skinner is an originating force. If Skinner is right, he is merely the locus of his environment. He is a not an originating force and he had no choice in saying the things he said or doing the things he did. Skinner's environment and genetics allowed and made him write his book. This is not to say that that means it is not true. The environment and genetics of the advocates of freedom and dignity make them fight the reality of their activity being grounded in determinism. RumorsOne often-repeated story claims that Skinner ventured into human experiments by raising his daughter Deborah in a Skinner box, which led to her life-long mental illness and a bitter resentment towards her father. Psychologist and author Lauren Slater wrote a book on Skinner's work in 2004 claiming that Deborah unsuccessfully sued her father for abuse and later committed suicide. In actuality the Air-Crib, Skinner's term for his version of the baby crib, was heated, cooled and had filtered air and was little more than a miniature version of a modern home designed to make the baby more comfortable, less sick, less prone to cry and so on. Reportedly it had some success in this area. In the case of this urban legend it is interesting to note that there was a Harvard professor whose daughter did go insane. And John B. Watson's experiment with Little Albert did provide a fuel for the frenzy of anti-Behaviorists. It is interesting to note that Skinner's critics, unable to find purchase in attacking his actual work, find endless amusement in inventing what can only be described as malicious stories about his personal life and groundless implications in his intentions. Chomsky's inability to attack Skinner's work finds new life in the tired mechanism of implying Skinner is a totalitarian, for example in "The Case Against Skinner". If Skinner is to do anything, we are told or lead to believe, it is no-dount to advance the works of evil in all of its forms: nazism, mind-control, baby-harming, totalitarianism, and so on. Deborah Skinner herself came forward to publically denounce the story as nothing more than hearsay and presumably to vouch for her own continued existence. In fact she blasted Lauren Slater's book for repeating this urban legend as being vicious and harmful and criticism the author for making absolutely no effort to check on this fact. See "I was not a lab rat" in the Guardian Unlimited Friday March 12, 2004 for the full text. Works
See alsoExternal links
Articles by Skinner:
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