How Did Bf Skinner Influence Human Behavior

B. F. Skinner, a psychologist, believed that one's behavior is determined from the outcome. “The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again” (Skinner). Punishments and rewards determine whether a certain kind of behavior will become a habit. Skinner believes that the human behavior is a product of the environment.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner, more commonly known as B.F Skinner, was born March 20 1904. His father was a lawyer and his mother like most women at the time stayed at home to take care of him and his brother. Skinner enjoyed working hands on. From an early age he showed an interest in building and inventing. When he was younger, he and a friend gathered elderberries and sold them door to door. He built a flotation system to separate ripen berries from the green berries. He also developed an interest in art and literature.

Skinner attended Hamilton College, a small liberal arts institution. He majored in English Literature and minored in Romance Languages. Following his graduation, he attempted a career in writing. He then

attended the Middlebury School of English, here he met the famous poet Robert Frost. He wrote his first book, Digest of Decisions of the Anthracite Board of Conciliation; it was about a 1904 coal strike.
Skinner moved on to psychology after having little success as a writer.

His early interest in Psychology was towards Philosophy, the study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge or experience. He had minimum college psychology background. Most of his early work was on self observation of memory and perception. Skinner met Fred S. Keller, a behaviorist graduate student at Harvard at the time.

B.F Skinner developed operant conditioning."The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the behavior will occur again" (Skinner). It's the theory that behavior is determined by the consequences following afterward, making it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again. For example a young boy hitting a younger sibling repeatedly without consequences , would cause the behavior to become a habit. If the boy faced consequences he would be less likely to repeat the

behavior.
The three principles of operant conditioning are neutral operants, reinforcers, and punishments. Skinner conducted an experiment to prove this. He placed a rat in a Skinner box that has a bar, then having the rat press on it, causing food to fall into the cage, the rat learns to press the bar whenever it wants food. This is one of the principles of operant conditioning, “a behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future”. If the rat presses on the bar and continually does not get food, the behavior will fade away. This is also another one of the principles of operant conditioning, “a behavior no longer followed by the reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased probability of that behavior occurring in the future”.
Even though many can argue that Skinner is one of the most influential psychologists of America, he remains hesitant to use the term “theory”. Skinner was unlike most psychologists at the time. He avoided constructing psychological theories from his research and imposing hypothesis after a study was completed.