473 Quotes by B. F. Skinner

Many instructional arrangements seem “contrived,” but there is nothing wrong with that. It is the teacher’s function to contrive conditions under which students learn. It has always been the task of formal education to set up behavior which would prove useful or enjoyable later in a student’s life.

Society already possesses the psychological techniques needed to obtain universal observance of a code – a code which would guarantee the success of a community or state. The difficulty is that these techniques are in the hands of the wrong people-or, rather, there aren’t any right people.

I’ve often said that my rats have taught me much more than I’ve taught them.

No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn’t die out, it’s wiped out.

The one fact that I would cry form every housetop is this: the Good Life is waiting for us – here and now.

The world’s a poor standard. any society which is free of hunger and violence looks bright against that background.

The environment shapes people's actions.

Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful.

I'm very pessimistic.