B. F. Skinner Quotes

Quotes about:

• A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.

  B. F. Skinner

  Punishment, Way, Psychological

  "Beyond Freedom and Dignity". Book by B. F. Skinner, 1972.

  348 Copy quote

• A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Perseverance, Giving Up

  382 Copy quote

• Behavior is determined by its consequences.

  B. F. Skinner

  Determined, Behavior, Consequence

  243 Copy quote

• The major difference between rats and people is that rats learn from experience.

  B. F. Skinner

  Differences, People, Rats

  260 Copy quote

• The strengthening of behavior which results from reinforcement is appropriately called 'conditioning'. In operant conditioning we 'strengthen' an operant in the sense of making a response more probable or, in actual fact, more frequent.

  B. F. Skinner

  Reinforcement, Facts, Behavior

  B.F Skinner (2012). “Science And Human Behavior”, p.65, Simon and Schuster

  217 Copy quote

• Give me a child and I'll shape him into anything.

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Children, Giving

  288 Copy quote

• Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences

  B. F. Skinner

  Behavior, Consequence

  196 Copy quote

• Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

  B. F. Skinner

  Graduation, Education, Teacher

  New Scientist 21 May 1964

  243 Copy quote

• We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are just beginning to understand the weakness of force and aggression.

  B. F. Skinner

  Weakness, Power Of Love, Force

  B. F. Skinner (1974). “Walden Two”, p.97, Hackett Publishing

  164 Copy quote

• The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.

  B. F. Skinner

  Reality, Important, Way

  "Meditations for Parents Who Do Too Much". Book by Jonathon Lazear and Wendy Lazear, p. 5, 1993.

  190 Copy quote

• That's all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.

  B. F. Skinner

  Teaching, Behavior, Contingency

  206 Copy quote

• It is not a question of starting. The start has been made. It's a question of what's to be done from now on.

  B. F. Skinner

  Done, Starting, Made

  B. F. Skinner (1974). “Walden Two”, p.257, Hackett Publishing

  186 Copy quote

• We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Teacher, Book

  "The Man and His Ideas". Book by Richard Isadore Evans (p. 73), 1968.

  164 Copy quote

• The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.

  B. F. Skinner

  Probability, Consequence

  29 Copy quote

• I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That's what life is.

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Reality, Design

  "The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology Vol. 4". Book edited by Joe L. Kincheloe and Raymond A. Horn, Ch. 99, p. 872 ("Unpacking the Skinner Box : Revisiting B. F. Skinner through a Postformal Lens" by Dana Salter), 2008.

  147 Copy quote

• What is love except another name for the use of positive reinforcement? Or vice versa.

  B. F. Skinner

  Names, What Is Love, Vices

  B. F. Skinner (1974). “Walden Two”, p.282, Hackett Publishing

  172 Copy quote

• Science is a willingness to accept facts even when they are opposed to wishes.

  B. F. Skinner

  Wish, Facts, Accepting

  B.F Skinner (2012). “Science And Human Behavior”, p.12, Simon and Schuster

  21 Copy quote

• It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled.

  B. F. Skinner

  Mistake, Men, Issues

  "I have been misunderstood". Center Magazine Interview (pp. 63-65), March/April 1972.

  15 Copy quote

• Do not intervene between a person and the consequences of their own behavior.

  B. F. Skinner

  Behavior, Persons, Consequence

  123 Copy quote

• We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.

  B. F. Skinner

  Inspiring, Education, Book

  "B. F. Skinner: The Man and His Ideas". Book by Richard Isadore Evans, p. 73, 1968.

  55 Copy quote

• Teachers must learn how to teach ... they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching.

  B. F. Skinner

  Teacher, Teaching, Needs

  37 Copy quote

• The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

  B. F. Skinner

  Real, Science, Technology

  'Contingencies of Reinforcement' (1969) ch. 9

  43 Copy quote

• A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.

  B. F. Skinner

  Running, Interesting, Principles

  B. F. Skinner (2015). “Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition”, p.157, B. F. Skinner Foundation

  5 Copy quote

• In the traditional view, a person is free. He is autonomous in the sense that his behavior is uncaused. He can therefore be held responsible for what he does and justly punished if he offends. That view, together with its associated practices, must be re-examined when a scientific analysis reveals unsuspected controlling relations between behavior and environment.

  B. F. Skinner

  Views, Practice, Together

  5 Copy quote

• If you're old, don't try to change yourself, change your environment.

  B. F. Skinner

  Change, Age, Trying

  8 Copy quote

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