Psychologist B. F. Skinner's Development Of Behaviorism?

Psychologist B.F. Skinner was born March 20, 1904 and passed away August 18, 1990. Raised in a small town in Pennsylvania by his father William who was a lawyer and his mother Grace. Skinner had a younger brother who he watched die at age sixteen due to cerebral hemorrhage. He attended Hamilton College in New York with plans of becoming a writer. After graduating with his B.A. in English literature he attended Harvard University. Here Skinner invented his prototype for the Skinner box. After Graduating he tried to write a novel which unsuccessfully failed. After his studies in psychology he then developed his own idea on behaviorism. Skinner then received a Ph.D. from Harvard and was a researcher there until 1936. He went on to teach at the University of Minnesota and later at Indiana University. Skinner then returned to Harvard as a professor in 1948 and remained teaching there for the remainder of his life. Skinner married in 1936 to Yvonne Blue they had two daughters, Julie and Deborah. Skinner was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the American Psychological Association a few days before he died.

It wasn’t until 1926 after abandoning writing as a career that he discovered behaviorism and took an interest in it. Although writing did not work out for him his efforts in it as well as his experiences, are what contributed to his development of behaviorism. Skinner worked toward his perspective on behaviorism and objectivism by realizing he could not be the kind of writer he admired, by observing the physical actions of living things but by actually doing them. During his so called dark year, the period after he had moved home once graduating from Harvard, Skinner experienced difficulty in maintaining his self-esteem. He f...

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...ame up with an invention called the baby tender. It was designed to simplify the care of a baby. After a Cleveland businessman offered to develop his invention commercially Skinner decided he wanted to move. In December of 1944 Skinner accepted a job at Indiana University as a professor of psychology and chairman of the psychology department. In 1948 the opportunity came up to leave Indiana for Harvard and Skinner decided to do so, although his wife was not happy about it. Skinner remained teaching and experimenting at Harvard until he passed away in August 18, 1990 from leukemia.

While I have never read a biography before I found it interestingly appealing to read. This biography not only helps you understand Skinner as a psychologist but as to what kind of man he really was. An amazing psychologist, a faithful husband, a concerning father, and a great friend.