All B.F. Skinner Quotes
- A self is a repertoire of behavior appropriate to a given set of contingencies. Appropriate
- Better contraceptives will control population only if people will use them. A nuclear holocaust can be prevented only if the conditions under which nations make… Abandoned
- 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. Any
- An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin. Behavior
- 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… Accept
- The human species took a crucial step forward when its vocal musculature came under operant control in the production of speech sounds. Indeed, it is… Achievement
- The simplest and most satisfactory view is that thought is simply behavior - verbal or nonverbal, covert or overt. It is not some mysterious process… All
- The problem of far greater importance remains to be solved. Rather than build a world in which we shall all live well, we must stop… All
- Old age is rather like another country. You will enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go. Age
- A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it. Drop
- Society already possesses the psychological techniques needed to obtain universal observance of a code - a code which would guarantee the success of a community… Already Possesses
- The severest trial of oppression is the constant outrage which one suffers at the thought of the oppressor. What Jesus discovered was how to avoid… Avoid
- Teachers must learn how to teach ... they need only to be taught more effective ways of teaching. Effective
- 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. Been
- Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences Behavior
- I've had only one idea in my life - a true idee fixe. To put it as bluntly as possible - the idea of having… Awry
- 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… All
- The extent to which human aggression exemplifies innate tendencies is not clear. Aggression
- The simulated approval and affection with which parents and teachers are often urged to solve behavior problems are counterfeit. So are flattery, backslap-ping, and many… Affection
- A culture must be reasonably stable, but it must also change, and it will presumably be strongest if it can avoid excessive respect for tradition… Avoid
- 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… Endowment
- Indeed one of the ultimate advantages of an education is simply coming to the end of it. Advantage
- Overcrowding can be corrected only by inducing people not to crowd, and the environment will continue to deteriorate until polluting practices are abandoned. Abandoned
- 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
- A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources. Control