Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
B. F. SKINNERThe 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.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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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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When we say that a man controls himself, we must specify who is controlling whom.
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The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
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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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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 vast technology has been developed to prevent, reduce, or terminate exhausting labor and physical damage. It is now dedicated to the production of the most trivial conveniences and comfort.
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I don’t believe in God, so I’m not afraid of dying.
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A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.
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We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.
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The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.
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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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To say that behaviors have different ‘meanings’ is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.
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The one fact that I would cry form every housetop is this: the Good Life is waiting for us – here and now.
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Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.
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Do not intervene between a person and the consequences of their own behavior.
B. F. SKINNER