1904-1990

American Psychologist

During the mid-twentieth century, B. F. Skinner became the most widely known proponent of behaviorism in psychology, the theory that human behavior is primarily a matter of conditioned responses to stimuli. In fact, Skinner represented the much narrower, and more radical school of thought known as operant behaviorism, or operationism. Among his many writings and ideas, perhaps the one most frequently associated with this highly public intellectual was the "Skinner box," a creation of the 1950s.

B. F. Skinner. (The Granger Collection Ltd. Reproduced with permission.)

Skinner was born on March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna, Ohio. He went to Hamilton College, then enrolled at Harvard, from which he received his master's degree in 1930. During the following year, he earned his doctorate in experimental psychology, and in 1936 began teaching at the University of Minnesota. Also in 1936, he married Yvonne Blue, with whom he had...