Behavior is determined by its consequences.
B. F. SKINNERProblem-solving typically involves the construction of discriminative stimuli
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.
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Men build society and society builds men.
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A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.
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The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
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I may say that the only differences I expect to see revealed between the behavior of the rat and man (aside from enormous differences of complexity) lie in the field of verbal behavior.
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The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
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Problem-solving typically involves the construction of discriminative stimuli
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Science, not religion, has taught me my most useful values, among them intellectual honesty. It is better to go without answers than to accept those that merely resolve puzzlement.
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Your liberals and radicals all want to govern. They want to try it their way- to show that people will be happier if the power is wielded in a different way or for different purposes. But how do they know? Have they ever tried it? No, it’s merely their guess.
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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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Was putting a man on the moon actually easier than improving education in our public schools?
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An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin.
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If the world is to save any part of its resources for the future, it must reduce not only consumption but the number of consumers.
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We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
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To require a citizen to sign a loyalty oath is to destroy some of the loyalty he could otherwise claim, since any subsequent loyal behavior may then be attributed to the oath.
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That’s all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.
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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.
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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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Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
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I don’t believe in God, so I’m not afraid of dying.
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Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything.
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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.
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A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.
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I’ve often said that my rats have taught me much more than I’ve taught them.
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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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I did not direct my life. I didn’t design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That’s what life is.
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