November 2019
Support the B. F. Skinner Foundation
Dear Friend, I am sure that you, like my husband Ernie and me, are bombarded with appeals from organizations, many of which you would like to support. In the next few days, as Giving Tuesday approaches, that stream will only increase. No one can accommodate all requests from non-profits whose activities are worthwhile. When you […]
The new issue of Operants is out!
The new issue of Operants magazine just went out to the subscribers! We are using a new email delivery system, so if you are a subscriber but did not receive your copy please check your Spam (Junk) folder. If our email ended up there, you have to designate operants@bfskinner.org as a trusted sender. The new […]
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 8: Why I Am Not a Cognitive Psychologist. Quote 5
“Suppose animals simply do what they feel like doing? What is the next step in explaining their behavior? Clearly, a science of animal behavior must be replaced by a science of animal feelings.” (p. 101)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 8: Why I Am Not a Cognitive Psychologist. Quote 3
“In Pavlov’s experiment a hungry dog hears a bell and is then fed. If this happens many times, the dog begins to salivate when it hears the bell. The standard mentalistic explanation is that the dog “associates” the bell with the food. But it was Pavlov who associated them! “Associate” means to join or unite. […]
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 8: Why I Am Not a Cognitive Psychologist. Quote 2
“Cognitive psychologists study [the] relations between organism and environment, but they seldom deal with them directly. Instead they invent internal surrogates which become the subject matter of their science.” (p. 97)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 15
“It is clear that the behavioral sciences have not yet fulfilled their promise . . . The fault lies, I am arguing, with the surviving mentalism. The sooner we abandon explanations of behavior in terms of feelings and states of mind the sooner we shall turn to the genetic and environmental conditions of which behavior […]
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 14
“Such a [behaviorist] program does not rob people of their feelings. It simply puts feelings in their proper place, and in doing so moves more rapidly to the kind of environment in which they can be enjoyed.” (p. 94)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 12
“Call it [behavior analysis] a superficial analysis if you will, but to turn instead to the minds of men, no matter how deeply implanted they may be, is to abandon any hope of solution.” (p. 91)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 11
“A research document published by the International Peace Research Association elaborates upon a famous statement issued by UNESCO many years ago: “Wars begin in the minds of men: hence it is in the minds of men that the defense of peace must be constructed.” But how are we to move into the minds of men […]
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 10
“Confidence is only one of hundreds of terms referring to feelings or states of mind which come to us naturally and conveniently in daily discussions of human behavior but which by their very nature are inimical to a scientific approach.” (p. 89)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 7
“As a behaviorist, I do not blush to say that I am at this moment possessed by a number of different feelings of confidence… But I hasten to point out that the degree of my confidence is related to the extent of my past successes and failures.” (p. 86)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 6
“Evidence of the powerful control exerted by the environment is obtained only through rather subtle scientific practices and is by no means as immediate or as obvious as the evidence that seems to support the traditional view.” (p. 85)
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. Chapter 7: Can We Profit from Our Discovery of Behavioral Science? Quote 5
“A science of behavior . . . turns to the environment—the environment that has produced the genetic endowment . . . and that now shapes and maintains the repertoire of the individual . . . By analyzing these two roles of the environment we can begin to understand behavior and, by changing the environment, to […]