We have seen that in certain respects operant reinforcement resembles the natural selection of evolutionary theory. Just as genetic characteristics which arise as mutations are selected or discarded by their consequences, so novel forms of behavior are selected or discarded through reinforcement.
B. F. SKINNERI don’t believe in God, so I’m not afraid of dying.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
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That’s all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.
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The mob rushes in where individuals fear to tread.
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The alphabet was a great invention, which enabled men to store and to learn with little effort what others had learned the hard way-that is, to learn from books rather than from direct, possibly painful, contact with the real world.
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Some of us learn control, more or less by accident. The rest of us go all our lives not even understanding how it is possible, and blaming our failure on being born the wrong way.
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At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved.
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Behavior is determined by its consequences.
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Do not intervene between a person and the consequences of their own behavior.
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The speaker does not feel the grammatical rules he is said to apply in composing sentences, and men spoke grammatically for thousands of years before anyone knew there were rules.
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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.
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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.
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It has always been the task of formal education to set up behavior which would prove useful or enjoyable later in a student’s life.
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Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
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Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.
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If you’re old, don’t try to change yourself, change your environment.
B. F. SKINNER