To say that behaviors have different ‘meanings’ is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.
B. F. SKINNERTo 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.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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Problem-solving typically involves the construction of discriminative stimuli
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Something doing every minute’ may be a gesture of despair-or the height of a battle against boredom.
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The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
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A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.
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It is not a question of starting. The start has been made. It’s a question of what’s to be done from now on.
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What is love except another name for the use of positive reinforcement? Or vice versa.
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To say that behaviors have different ‘meanings’ is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.
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…not everyone is willing to defend a position of ‘not knowing.’ There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake.
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The major difference between rats and people is that rats learn from experience.
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Death does not trouble me. I have no fear of supernatural punishments, of course, nor could I enjoy an eternal life in which there would be nothing left for me to do, the task of living having been accomplished.
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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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No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn’t die out, it’s wiped out.
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Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.
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Old age is rather like another country. You will enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go.
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We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
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