B. F. Skinner Quotes

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• 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

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• 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

  339 Copy quote

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

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Children, Giving

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• 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

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

  B. F. Skinner

  Differences, People, Rats

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• Behavior is determined by its consequences.

  B. F. Skinner

  Determined, Behavior, Consequence

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

  B. F. Skinner

  Graduation, Education, Teacher

  New Scientist 21 May 1964

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• 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

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• Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences

  B. F. Skinner

  Behavior, Consequence

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• 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

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

  B. F. Skinner

  Teaching, Behavior, Contingency

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• 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.

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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.

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• It is a surprising fact that those who object most violently to the manipulation of behaviour nevertheless make the most vigorous effort to manipulate minds.

  B. F. Skinner

  Effort, Mind, Behaviour

  82 Copy quote

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• 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

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• I've often said that my rats have taught me much more than I've taught them.

  B. F. Skinner

  Rats, Taught, Said

  52 Copy quote

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

  B. F. Skinner

  Behavior, Persons, Consequence

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• A self is a repertoire of behavior appropriate to a given set of contingencies.

  B. F. Skinner

  Self, Behavior, Given

  99 Copy quote

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• A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process.

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Doe, May

  B. F. Skinner (1974). “Walden Two”, p.109, Hackett Publishing

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• No theory changes what it is a theory about. Nothing is changed because we look at it, talk about it, or analyze it in a new way. Keats drank confusion to Newton for analyzing the rainbow, but the rainbow remained as beautiful as ever and became for many even more beautiful. Man has not changed because we look at him, talk about him, and analyze him scientifically. ... What does change is our chance of doing something about the subject of a theory. Newton's analysis of the light in a rainbow was a step in the direction of the laser.

  B. F. Skinner

  Beautiful, Men, Light

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• Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless. It enslaves him almost before he has tasted freedom. The 'ologies' will tell you how its done Theology calls it building a conscience or developing a spirit of selflessness. Psychology calls it the growth of the superego. Considering how long society has been at it, you'd expect a better job. But the campaigns have been badly planned and the victory has never been secured.

  B. F. Skinner

  Jobs, Long, Psychology

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• 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

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• An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin.

  B. F. Skinner

  Education, Important, Skins

  B. F. Skinner (2014). “Verbal Behavior”, p.145, B. F. Skinner Foundation

  60 Copy quote

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