B. F. Skinner

This fictional outline of a modern utopia has been a center of controversy ever since its publication in 1948. Set in the United States, it pictures a society in which human problems are solved by a scientific technology of human conduct. It is now widely recognized that great changes must be made in the American way of life. Not only can we not face the rest of the world while consuming and polluting as we do, we cannot for long face ourselves while acknowledging the violence and chaos in which we live.The choice is clear: either we do nothing and allow a miserable and probably catastrophic future to overtake us, or we use our knowledge about human behavior to create a social environment in which we shall live productive and creative lives and do so without jeopardizing the chances that those who follow us will be able to do the same. -Back cover.

Walden Two

Verbal Behavior (B.F. Skinner Reprint Series) (B.F. Skinner Reprint Series) (B.F. Skinner Reprint Series) (B.F. Skinner Reprint Series)

About Behaviourism

Walden Dos toma su nombre de la experiencia del filósfo H. D. Thoreau, que se retiró durante dos años a un lugar del bosque de Concord (Massachussets) llamado Walden para vivir en aislamiento, apartado de una civilización industrial que, según su propia experiencia, «convierte al hombre en instrumento de sus propios instrumentos». Walden Dos, la comunidad de Skinner, es «una comunidad de unas mil personas que gozan de un placentero ambiente rural y trabajan sólo unas cuantas horas al día sin ser obligadas a hacerlo. Sus niños son cuidados y educados por especialistas, la comida es buena y la atención médica y sanitaria, excelentes. Hay mucho tiempo libre. Florecen el arte, la música y la literatura, y se fomenta la investigación científica.» Es, en definitiva, una utopía construida de acuerdo con los últimos adelantos científicos, especialmente en el campo de la psicología social.Esta obra polémica, publicada en 1948 y traducida a numerosos idiomas, se ha convertido en un clásico y referente para millones de personas, que encuentran en ella un texto de plena actualidad en el que se plantea, a fondo y sin prejuicios, temas tan candentes y cruciales como la crisis de la familia, el problema de la libertad, la viabilidad de la democracia y tantos otros, adoptando, en la mayoría de las ocasiones, posturas revolucionarias. Mr ediciones reedita un libro clave que nos obliga a replantearnos, bajo una nueva y crítica mirada, problemas que nos afectan vitalmente a todos.

Hacia una sociedad científicamente construida

Walden Dos

Certain basic assumptions, essential to any scientific activity, are sometimes called theories. That nature is orderly rather than capricious is an example. Certain statements are also theories simply to the extent that they are not yet facts. A scientist may guess at the result of an experiment before the experiment is carried out. The prediction and the later statement of result may be composed of the same terms in the same syntactic arrangement, the difference being in the degree of confidence.

Are Theories of Learning Necessary

In this profound and profoundly controversial work, a landmark of 20th-century thought originally published in 1971, B. F. Skinner makes his definitive statement about humankind and society. Insisting that the problems of the world today can be solved only by dealing much more effectively with human behavior, Skinner argues that our traditional concepts of freedom and dignity must be sharply revised. They have played an important historical role in our struggle against many kinds of tyranny, he acknowledges, but they are now responsible for the futile defense of a presumed free and autonomous individual; they are perpetuating our use of punishment and blocking the development of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the massive results of the experimental analysis of behavior he pioneered, Skinner rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind, feelings, and other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in the interaction between genetic endowment and personal history. He argues that instead of promoting freedom and dignity as personal attributes, we should direct our attention to the physical and social environments in which people live. It is the environment rather than humankind itself that must be changed if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom and dignity are to be reached. Beyond Freedom and Dignity urges us to reexamine the ideals we have taken for granted and to consider the possibility of a radically behaviorist approach to human problems--one that has appeared to some incompatible with those ideals, but which envisions the building of a world in which humankind can attain its greatest possible achievements.

Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Cumulative Record

2015 Reprint of 1957 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The significance of this work was grasped immediately. Osgood wrote that "Verbal Behavior is certainly one of the two or three most significant contributions to this field in our time." (Osgood, 1958, p. 212). Morris wrote that "Skinner is both elegant and admirable (Morris, 1958, p. 213.) Both predicted a promising future for the book and such did turn out to be the case. Over more than half a century after its initial publication in 1957, "Verbal Behavior" has remained in demand and continues to be relevant. The documented efficacy of Skinner's practices, especially with autism, has assured its relevance. His functional analysis of language continues to inform contemporary research in the field of linguistics. Contents: A functional analysis of verbal behavior -- General problems -- The mand -- Verbal behavior under the control of verbal stimuli -- The tact -- Special conditions affecting stimulus control -- The audience -- The verbal operant as a unit of analysis -- Multiple causation -- Supplementary stimulation -- New combinations of fragmentary responses -- The autoclitic -- Grammar and syntax as autoclitic processes -- Composition and its effects -- Self-editing -- Special conditions of self-editing -- Self-strengthening of verbal behavior -- Logical and scientific verbal behavior -- Thinking.

Verbal Behavior

On Parent's Day, in 1952, B. F. Skinner visited his daughter's fourth grade math class. As he watched the lesson, he became increasingly uncomfortable. Almost every principle of effective teaching that he had studied for more than 20 years was being violated in that classroom. Yet it was a typical class. The teacher showed how to solve the day's problems, then gave the students a worksheet to do. Some children began to work readily while others shifted uncomfortably in their chairs, or raised their hands for help. The teacher went from desk to desk, giving help and feedback. Skinner knew what was needed. Each student should be given a problem tailored precisely to his or her skill level, not to the class average, and every answer needed to be assessed immediately to determine the next step. The task was clearly impossible for one teacher. That afternoon, Skinner set to work on a teaching machine. Today's computers have made the mechanical machine obsolete, but the principles of how to design instruction in steps that lead from a basic level to competent performance are as valid today as they were in the 20th century. This book brings together Skinner's writings on education during the years he was most involved in improving education.

The Technology of Teaching

WALDEN TWO. BY B. F. SKINNER.

C. B. Ferster

The contingent relationship between actions and their consequences lies at the heart of Skinner’s experimental analysis of behavior. Particular patterns of behavior emerge depending upon the contingencies established. Ferster and Skinner examined the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on behavior. An extraordinary work, Schedules of Reinforcement represents over 70,000 hours of research primarily with pigeons, though the principles have now been experimentally verified with many species including human beings. At first glance, the book appears to be an atlas of schedules. And so it is, the most exhaustive in existence. But it is also a reminder of the power of describing and explaining behavior through an analysis of measurable and manipulative behavior-environment relations without appealing to physiological mechanisms in the brain. As en exemplar and source for the further study of behavioral phenomena, the book illustrates the scientific philosophy that Skinner and Ferster adopted: that a science is best built from the ground up, from a firm foundation of facts that can eventually be summarized as scientific laws.

Schedules of Reinforcement

B. F. Skinner titled this book, Contingencies of Reinforcement, after the heart of his science of behavior. Contingencies relate classes of actions to postcedent events and to the contexts in which those action-postcedent relations occur. The basic processes seem straightforward, but many people do not know or understand the underlying theory. Skinner believed that ‘a theory is essential to the scientific understanding of behavior as a subject matter”. This book presents some of Skinner’s most sophisticated statements about theoretical issues. To his original articles, he added notes to clarify and expand subtle points. The book thus provides an overview of Skinner’s thinking about theory and the philosophy underpinning the science he began.

A Theoretical Analysis

Contingencies of Reinforcement

An Experimental Analysis

The Behavior of Organisms

David Webb

A Psychology Classic Burrhus Frederic "B. F." Skinner ranks among the most frequently cited and influential psychologists in the history of the discipline. Building on the behaviorist theories of Ivan Pavlov and John Watson he was the first psychologist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association (APA.) Originally published in 1948, Superstition in The Pigeon is a learning theory classic. Note To Psychology StudentsIf you ever have to do a paper, assignment or class project on the work of B. F. Skinner having access to Superstition in The Pigeon in full will prove invaluable. A psychology classic is by definition a must read; however, most landmark texts within the discipline remain unread by a majority of psychology students. A detailed, well written description of a classic study is fine to a point, but there is absolutely no substitute for understanding and engaging with the issues under review than by reading the authors unabridged ideas, thoughts and findings in their entirety. Bonus MaterialShortly after the publication of Superstition in the Pigeon, Skinner gave a detailed account of his science of behavior in a paper presented to the Midwestern Psychological Association, in Chicago. First published in 1950, the paper entitled Are Theories of Learning Necessary? is also presented in full. Superstition in The Pigeon by B. F. Skinner has been produced as part of an initiative by the website www.all-about-psychology.com to make historically important psychology publications widely available.

Superstition in the Pigeon

Psychology Classics

In 1934, at the age of 30, B. F. Skinner found himself at a dinner sitting next to Professor Alfred North Whitehead. Never one to lose an opportunity to promote behaviorism, Skinner expounded its main tenets to the distinguished philosopher. Whitehead acknowledged that science might account for most of human behavior but he would not include verbal behavior. He ended the discussion with a challenge: "Let me see you," he said, "account for my behavior as I sit here saying, 'No black scorpion is falling upon this table.'" The next morning Skinner began this book. It took him over twenty years to complete. This book extends the laboratory-based principles of selection by consequences to account for what people say, write, gesture, and think. Skinner argues that verbal behavior requires a separate analysis because it does not operate on the environment directly, but rather through the behavior of other people in a verbal community. He illustrates his thesis with examples from literature, the arts, and sciences, as well as from his own verbal behavior and that of his colleagues and children. Perhaps it is because this theoretical work provides a way to approach that most human of human behavior that Skinner ofter called Verbal Behavior his most important work.

B. F. Skinner

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