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BF Skinner's Life

By amandaszanc

  • BF Skinner was born

    His name on his birth certificate is Burrhus Fredrick Skinner, however he is most commonly referred to as BF Skinner. He was born and raised in a small town in Pennsylvania called Susquehanna.
  • Period: to

    BF Skinner's life

  • Master's in Psychology

    While at Havard, Skinner invented his operant conditioning chamber, also called the Skinner Box.

  • Graduated from Hamilton College in New York

  • PhD from Harvard

  • Married Yvonne Blue

    They had 2 daughters: Julie and Deborah.

  • The Behavior of Organisms

    His studies on operant behavior and operant conditioning appear in his first book. His invention, the cumulative recorder, was also mentioned.

  • Awarded the Warren Medal by the Society of Experimental Psychologists.

  • Skinner took over the Psychology Department at the University of Indiana where he developed the Teaching Machine and Air crib

  • Walden Two

    This book is a fictional account of a behaviorist created utopia in which carefree young parents stroll off to work or school while their little ones enjoy all of the comforts of community - run, behaviorist approved daycare.

  • Walden Two was published.

  • Elected president of the Midwestern Psychological Association

  • Published Science and Human Behavior

  • Fixed interval schedule of reinforcement described.

  • Publication of Verbal Behavior

  • Ferster and Skinner published Schedules of Reinforcement which described relative performances under CRF to a VR, FI, or VI schedules.

  • The Teaching Machine and System80

    The teaching machine was a device that administered a curriculum of programmed instruction. It had a list of questions for a learner to respond to. When answered correctly, the learner would be rewarded.The System80 elevated Skinner's 5 steps toward educational progression. This device gave the learner immediate feedback, broke the task into small steps, repeated the directions, worked from the most simple to the most complex tasks, and gave positive reinforcement for correct answers.

  • Skinner introduced the concept of critical period in reinforcing an event.

  • Elected president of the Pavlovian Society

  • Skinner identified the critical characteristics of programmed instruction

  • Publication of Beyond Freedom and Dignity

  • Received the Humanist of the Year Award by the American Humanist Association.

  • Retired as Harvard's Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology.

  • Published Enjoying Old Age.