Top 42 Quotes by B. F. Skinner

About B. F. Skinner

These are some quotes by American author B. F. Skinner Psychologist, who lived between March 20, 1904 and August 18, 1990.

The feeling of being interested can act as a kind of neurological signal, directing us to fruitful areas of inquiry.

The feeling of being interested can act as a kind of neurological signal, directing us to fruitful areas of inquiry.

B. F. Skinner

We have not yet seen what man can make of man.

We have not yet seen what man can make of man.

B. F. Skinner

The environment shapes people's actions.

The environment shapes people's actions.

B. F. Skinner

Religions work for their own aggrandizement - strengthen the church and so on - and they use reinforcers of one kind or another to get obedience and so on from their communicants.

Religions work for their own aggrandizement - strengthen the church and so on - and they use reinforcers of one kind or another to get obedience and so on from their communicants.

B. F. Skinner

Behavior used to be reinforced by great deprivation; if people weren't hungry, they wouldn't work. Now we are committed to feeding people whether they work or not. Nor is money as great a reinforcer as it once was. People no longer work for punitive reasons, yet our culture offers no new satisfactions.

B. F. Skinner

Must we wait for selection to solve the problems of overpopulation, exhaustion of resources, pollution of the environment and a nuclear holocaust, or can we take explicit steps to make our future more secure? In the latter case, must we not transcend selection?

B. F. Skinner

The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.

The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.

B. F. Skinner

You can get along very well in this world by simply coming up with a quantity of reasonably valid statements.

You can get along very well in this world by simply coming up with a quantity of reasonably valid statements.

B. F. Skinner

Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful.

Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful.

B. F. Skinner

I remember when I was a freshman in college, I was still somewhat bothered by... worried... about religion. I remember going to this professor of philosophy and telling him that I had lost my faith.

I remember when I was a freshman in college, I was still somewhat bothered by... worried... about religion. I remember going to this professor of philosophy and telling him that I had lost my faith.

B. F. Skinner

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