B. F. Skinner

(proper noun)

(1904–1990) An American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher known for his work on operant conditioning.

Related Terms

Examples of B. F. Skinner in the following topics:

  • Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning: Skinner

    • B.
    • F.
    • Thorndike in the late 1800s, then brought to popularity by B.
    • F.
    • Skinner in the mid-1900s.

  • Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning

    • Thorndike in the late 1800's, then brought to popularity by B.F.
    • Skinner in the mid-1900's.
    • Thorndike's initial research was highly influential on another psychologist, B.F.
    • Skinner.
    • Skinner used this basic principle to study the possible scope and scale of the influence of operant conditioning on animal behavior.

  • Behavioral Psychology

    • Watson, Edward Lee Thorndike, and B.
    • F.
    • Skinner.
    • John B.
    • F.

  • Shaping

    • In his operant-conditioning experiments, Skinner often used an approach called shaping.
    • To test this method, B.
    • F.
    • Skinner performed shaping experiments on rats, which he placed in an apparatus (known as a Skinner box) that monitored their behaviors.
    • For example, once the rat had touched the lever, Skinner might stop rewarding it for simply taking a step toward the lever.

  • Defining Learning

    • B.
    • F.
    • Skinner researched operant conditioning by conducting experiments with rats in what he called a "Skinner box."

  • Comparative Psychology

    • Ivan Pavlov's early work used dogs; Edward Thorndike began his studies with cats; and B.
    • F. 
    • Skinner introduced the use of pigeons in his work.
    • There has always been interest in studying various primate species; important contributions to social and developmental psychology were made by Harry F.

  • Behavior Therapy and Applied Behavioral Analysis

    • F.
    • Skinner), and the United Kingdom (Rachman and Eysenck).
    • B.
    • F.
    • Skinner developed the idea of operant conditioning in 1937, when he tested the learning of rats through reinforcement and punishment in what is now called a Skinner box.

  • Human Language Development

    • B.
    • F.
    • Skinner believed that children learn language through operant conditioning; in other words, children receive "rewards" for using language in a functional manner.
    • This follows the four-term contingency that Skinner believed was the basis of language development—motivating operations, discriminative stimuli, response, and reinforcing stimuli.
    • Skinner also suggested that children learn language through imitation of others, prompting, and shaping.

  • Bandura's and Rotter's Social-Cognitive Theories of Personality

    • He agreed with B.F.
    • Skinner's theory that personality develops through learning; however, he disagreed with Skinner’s strict behaviorist approach to personality development.
    • In contrast to Skinner’s idea that the environment alone determines behavior, Bandura (1990) proposed the concept of reciprocal determinism, in which cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact, each factor simultaneously influencing and being influenced by the others.

  • Positive Psychology

    • Humanistic psychology emerged in the 1950s in response to the limitations of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B.
    • F.
    • Skinner's behaviorism.