B.F. Skinner
Heidi Zorn
Childhood
 Born 1904 in Susquehanna, PA
 Skinner was expected to be a lawyer
from birth
 Edward (Ebbie) was his younger brother
 Ebbie was the favorite
Late Adolescence
 Moved to Scranton for Father's new position (Coal Company senior
counsel)
 Worked hard to have a love life
 Wanted a career in creative writing
College
 Went to Hamilton College in New York
 Ridiculed for his intellect
 Ebbie died at 16 (1923) of a cerebral
hemorrhage
 Fred took the death hard, William did
also (burst into tears at thought of
Ebbie)
Dark Year
 Graduated and wanted to write a novel and get a job
 Father offered him manager's position at Coal Company
 Fred was hesitant but had no career plans (doubts about his future)
Grad School
 Entered Harvard grad school for psychology
 Decided he wanted to be in a university setting
 Skinner Box was created
 Fred Keller told Skinner that "he could make a science out of the study of
behavior"
Ph.D
 Finished his Ph.D, but didn’t leave to continue to do research (31-36)
 Came up with operant conditioning
 Mixed views from behaviorists; felt unappreciated
 "Womanizer"
Adulthood
 "Eve" Blue became his wife (1936)
 She was intelligent and rebellious
 Moved to Minnesota
 Both stated neither was happy in their
marriage
Julie and Deborah
 Eve didn't have motherly instincts
 When Deborah was born Skinner
created a crib to tend to his children
"baby tender"
 Deborah's home for 2 ½ years
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR
Nf1RseGXQ (1:40)
Pigeons
 1940- Skinner wondered if pigeons could
be trained to be bombers
 1942- took sabbatical to work on project
 Developed effective bird technology for
a wide range of targets
 Turned down by the government
 http://www.military.com/video/operatio
ns-and-strategy/second-worldwar/project-orcon-pidgeon-guidedmissile/897399315001 (2:17 )
Baby Tender
 Thermostatically controlled, baby needed to be washed 1/week,
eliminated rashes, helped mother with daily routine
 "baby in a box" title led to bad press
 James Judd- Display Associates helped Skinner commercialize it
 Julian Bobbs- Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Compnay
 John Gray
Another New Job 1946
 Chair of Psychology at Indiana University
 William bought Fred and Eve a new house
 Bill Verplank
 Moved back for Harvard teaching job
Walden Two
 Wrote about a utopian
society based off of
behaviorism 1945
 Wanted societies like this to
pop up and survive
 1971- visited Two Oaks
 Cover of Time Magazine for
Walden Two and Beyond
Freedom and Dignity
Late Years
 Kept himself on a very strict schedule
 Japanese friend sent him a beddoe in 1980's
 Went to conferences to upstand colleagues
 Worked on 3 volume biography-1300 pages
 Became very ill
 Fell down stairs hit head; lead to subdural hematoma
 Found out he was anemic and had leukemia
 8 days before death gave 20 minute speech at APA convention
Discussion Questions
 Skinner mentioned later in life that cognitive psychology was "mentalism"
because the mind is unpredictable and unmeasurable. What do you think
Skinner would think of cognitive psychology now? What would he think of
cognitive behavioral therapy?
 Skinner was impacted heavily by Ebbie's death. How do you think this
impacted his career?
 Skinner was a major behaviorist, however, he did not raise his children on
behaviorist principles. Why do you think this is?