1904-1990
An American psychologist who developed the field of Behaviorism. He was also an author and inventor who worked as a professor of psychology at Harvard until his retirement. Skinner held the controversial position that behavior was deterministic and that free will was an illusion. His principle of reinforcement was used to explain the probability of behaviors, with positive consequences increasing the probability of certain behaviors and negative consequences decreasing them.
Influenced by Darwin and Pavlov, Skinner demonstrated how the environment shaped purposeful behavior as opposed to evolution or reflexes. He invented an experimental chamber for animal subjects and studied the rates of responses based on reinforcement.
His work has had wide applications beyond laboratory settings including schools, workplaces, and children with developmental disorders.
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