1904–1990

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST, WRITER

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Ph.D., 1931

Brief Overview

Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner (1904–1990) is considered by most to be one of the pivotal psychologists of the twentieth century. Both his followers and detractors alike agree that his tireless work in behaviorism has significantly changed the landscape of psychology in general and the perception of how behavior is understood by both scientists and common people. His theories, though modified in various ways over the years, still continue to be widely applied in all walks of contemporary life.

Skinner was an American psychologist best known for the theory he developed over many years, which he called operant conditioning. Operant conditioning was a refinement of Ivan Pavlov's earlier concept of classical conditioning. Operant conditioning states that learning occurs as a result of the rewards and punishments the subject receives in response to a particular behavior. If...