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Burrhus Frederic SkinerAmerican psychologist
Date of Birth: 20.03.1904
Country: ![]() |
Content:
Biography of B.F. Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner, an American psychologist, inventor, and writer, is best known for his theory of operant conditioning. He is also recognized for his literary and journalistic works, where he promoted the widespread application of behavior modification techniques developed in behaviorism, such as programmed learning, to improve society and make people happier, as a form of social engineering. He was born on March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. After attending Hamilton College, Skinner initially attempted to write prose and poetry but soon realized that his talents lay in another field.

Early Career
Influenced by the biologist W.J. Crozier, Skinner was drawn to conducting experiments on animals. In 1931, he earned his doctorate in psychology from Harvard University, where he stayed until 1936 to conduct research. In 1936, Skinner moved to Minneapolis to teach at the University of Minnesota. From 1945, he taught at Indiana University, and in 1948, he became a professor at Harvard University.

Contributions to Psychology
Skinner's most significant work is "The Behavior of Organisms" (1938), where he explains the principles of operant conditioning. The easiest way to understand these principles is to examine a typical Skinner experiment. A rat, whose weight has been reduced to 80-90% of normal, is placed in a device called a "Skinner box." This tight chamber only allows the rat to perform actions that the experimenter can control or observe. The box has a hole through which food is delivered and a lever. The rat must press the lever several times to receive a food pellet. This pressing is called an operant response. Whether the rat presses the lever with its paw, nose, or tail, the operant response remains the same since it produces the same consequence—food. By rewarding (providing food) for a specific number of lever presses or for pressing with a certain interval, stable response patterns can be obtained.

Skinner distinguishes operant responses from automatic, purely reflex reactions associated with unconditional and conditional reflexes. In Skinner's understanding, an operant response is voluntary and goal-oriented. However, Skinner defines goal-directedness in terms of feedback (i.e., the impact of consequences on behavior) rather than in terms of goals, intentions, or other internal states—psychological or physiological. According to him, the use of these "internal variables" in psychology implies the introduction of dubious assumptions that add nothing to the empirical laws that link observable behavior with observable environmental influences. It is these laws that serve as a real means of predicting and controlling human and animal behavior.
Later Career
Skinner pioneered teaching with special machines that he and his colleagues developed. These teaching machines evaluated a student's responses to a presented question. Consequently, desirable behavior from the student received immediate reinforcement. According to Skinner, operant conditioning can be applied not only to control the behavior of others but also to control one's own behavior. Self-control can be achieved by creating conditions for desirable behavior to be reinforced.
Legacy and Death
Skinner passed away from leukemia on August 18, 1990, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1990, just a few weeks before his death, Skinner gave a radio interview with CBS. When the reporter asked if he was afraid of death, Skinner replied, "I don't believe in God, so I'm not afraid of dying." According to reviews conducted by psychologists, Skinner was one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century. He received numerous professional awards and, shortly before his death, he was honored with an unprecedented achievement: a posthumous induction into the honorary list of distinguished contributors to psychology by the American Psychological Association (1990).