Skinner And His Contribution On Behaviorism And Operant...

Human behavior has been an important topic and has been studied by many psychologists for many years now. B.F. Skinner was known as one of the most controversial intellectual figures of the late twentieth century who introduced behavior analysis and the idea of reinforcement (Myers, 2010). Skinner developed much of his work based from the law of effect by Edward Thorndike, who was also known as a philosopher. This research paper will focus on B.F. Skinner and his contribution on behaviorism and operant conditioning. This paper will provide an in-depth explanation on the concept and development of behavior analysis, B.F. Skinner was one of the most controversial intellectual figures of the late twentieth century. He was well-known as an American psychologist, philosopher, scientist, and poet. He was born on March 20, 1904 in the small town of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. After receiving his B.A. in English literature in 1926, Skinner decided to attend Harvard University, in which he later earned his masters in psychology in 1930 and his doctorate in 1931. He spent most of his professional life teaching at different Universities, but remained in Harvard University for the rest of his life. He first showed interests in psychology after researching about John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov experiments, which focuses on stimulus-response paradigm. Both of Watson and Pavlov work on classical conditioning inspired Skinner, which led him to acquire his degreeShow MoreRelatedWatson, Skinner and Tolman Essay1627 Words   |  7 PagesDuring the 20th century, the science of psychology developed a role that ident ified it as an essential of life. John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward Tolman are a vital part of that journey transcending from the 19th century to what is now known as â€Å"modern day psychology† in 2012. 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