Avery Shiffer

English lll ​.
Period 1B​ ​.

B.F. Skinner Research Paper

B.F. Skinner was born in 1904 and died in 1990, but in his lifetime
he brought many ideas and contributions to Modern Psychology. He
was always less concerned with understanding behavior and more
interested in predicting and controlling it. B.F. Skinner contributed to
Modern Psychology so greatly he shook its core foundation and built
more layers and subfields to psychology.
B.F Skinner’s History and Contributions to Modern Psychology. B.F.
Skinner was an american psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor,
and social philosopher. He was also a professor of psychology at
Harvard University and had many theories that contributed to modern
psychology. Some of his contributions consisted of writing the
Behaviorist Theory and the Operant Conditioning Theory, and he
pioneered Radical Behaviorism. Skinner also wrote many books
including but not limited to Science and Human Behavior (1953),
Verbal Behavior (1957), The Analysis of Behavior (with J.G. Holland,
1961), Technology of Teaching (1968), and Beyond Freedom and
Dignity (1971).
What is Radical Behaviorism? The theory of Radical Behaviorism
was written and pioneered by B.F. Skinner in 1945. This theory argues
that a person's behavior should be the focus of study in modern
psychology rather than the person's mental state. This theory also
asserts that any science of behavior, including Modern Psychology,
can be called a natural science. Radical Behaviorism emphasizes the
importance of reinforcement and the relationships between observable
stimuli and responses. This theory also shook the foundation that
psychology was built on. What is Modern Psychology and what is its
main goals? Modern Psychology, also known as the study of the mind
and behavior, first began in 1879 and has grown immensely and into
many subfields since then. Such as human development, sports,
health, clinical, social behavior, and cognitive processes. Modern
Psychology has many goals, but it’s main goal has always been to
describe, explain, predict, and control behavior and mental processes
of people all around the world. Many behaviorists and psychologists
participated in making these goals possible including B.F. Skinner.
B.F. Skinner not only created new theories that contributed to Modern
Psychology, his theories completely changed the very foundations of
psychology. He proved that psychology is and was never as simple as
it is believed to be.
 Works Cited
“B.F. Skinner Bio.” Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia
Britannica, 16 Mar. 2019, ​www.britannica.com/biography/B-F-Skinner​.

“​ What Is Radical Behaviorism? A Review of Jay Moore's ​Conceptual

Foundations of Radical Behaviorism​.” Edited by William M Baum,
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,​ Society for the
Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Inc, Jan. 2011,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3014776/​.

Psychology. Dr Vincent Berger,

www.psychologistanywhereanytime.com/famous_psychologist_an
d_psychologists/psychologist_famous_b_f_skinner.htm​.