The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
B. F. SKINNERProblem-solving typically involves the construction of discriminative stimuli
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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A child who has been severely punished for sex play is not necessarily less inclined to continue; and a man who has been imprisoned for violent assault is not necessarily less inclined toward violence.
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A disappointment is not generally an oversight. It might just be the best one can do the situation being what it is. The genuine error is to quit attempting.
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A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.
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The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.
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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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The juvenile delinquent does not feel his disturbed personality. The intelligent man does not feel his intelligence or the introvert his introversion.
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Teachers must learn how to teach they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching.
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A person’s genetic endowment, a product of the evolution of the species, is said to explain part of the workings of his mind and his personal history the rest.
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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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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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Science is a willingness to accept facts even when they are opposed to wishes.
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The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.
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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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Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
B. F. SKINNER







