B. F. Skinner Biography

Burrhus Frederic “B.F.” Skinner was a psychologist and social philosopher considered to be a pioneer in the field of behaviorism. He founded a separate school of psychology known as “radical behaviorism” which differed considerably from the other schools of psychology. He believed that living beings tend to repeat the actions which they believe give them favourable results. He called this the principle of reinforcement. He was an intelligent, creative, and independent minded individual who often found himself surrounded by controversy due to the nature of his works. He was of the view that free will was an illusion and vehemently denied that humans possessed any freedom or dignity. He was also an inventor who is credited to have invented the operant conditioning chamber which is used to study behaviour conditioning. He designed the air crib, a temperature and humidity controlled crib for taking care of babies. This proved to be his most controversial invention and he was heavily criticized for inflicting cruelty upon small babies. A prolific writer, he authored 180 articles and more than 20 books, the best known of which are ‘Walden Two’ and ‘Beyond Freedom and Dignity’. Throughout his life he had served as a professor in various colleges and left a profound impact on in the field of education.