All B.F. Skinner Quotes
- We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are just beginning to understand the weakness of force and aggression. Aggression
- Some of us learn control, more or less by accident. The rest of us go all our lives not even understanding how it is possible,… Accident
- A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process. Administrative
- 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.… Asks
- The only geniuses produced by the chaos of society are those who do something about it. Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to… Behaviorism
- A scientist may not be sure of the answer, but he's often sure he can find one. And that's a condition which is clearly not… Answer
- The majority of people don't want to plan. They want to be free of the responsibility of planning. What they ask for is merely some… Anyone
- In the world at large we seldom vote for a principle or a given state of affairs. We vote for a man who pretends to… Achieve
- Men build society and society builds men. Build
- What is love except another name for the use of positive reinforcement? Or vice versa. Another Name
- ...not everyone is willing to defend a position of 'not knowing.' There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake. Defend
- It is a surprising fact that those who object most violently to the manipulation of behaviour nevertheless make the most vigorous effort to manipulate minds. Behaviour
- To say that a man is sinful because he sins is to give an operational definition of sin. To say that he sins because he… Assigned
- When you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it. Drop
- The feeling of being interested can act as a kind of neurological signal, directing us to fruitful areas of inquiry. Act
- No theory changes what it is a theory about; man remains what he has always been. Been
- Those few people who do respond to the dire conditions of the future - journalists, environmentalists, behavioral scientists - tend not to be powerful. Behavioral
- Must we wait for selection to solve the problems of overpopulation, exhaustion of resources, pollution of the environment and a nuclear holocaust, or can we… Case
- Religions work for their own aggrandizement - strengthen the church and so on - and they use reinforcers of one kind or another to get… Aggrandizement
- I remember when I was a freshman in college, I was still somewhat bothered by... worried... about religion. I remember going to this professor of… Bothered
- I believe that I have been basically anarchistic, anti-religion and anti-industry and business. In other words, anti-bureaucracy. I would like to see people behave well… Anarchistic
- Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful. Extremely
- The people who control the condition in which we live have no reason to think beyond more than the next five or 10 years. Beyond
- I never really expected to be controversial. Controversial
- I would be opposed to any kind of totalitarian control. Any