Skinner, Burrhus Frederic (1904-90)Psychologist, born in Susquhanna, Pa. He studied at Harvard, teaching there (1931-1936, 1947-1974). A leading behaviorist, he is a proponent of operant conditioning, and the inventor of the Skinner box for facilitating experimental observations. His main scientific works include The Behavior of Organisms (1938), and Verbal Behavior (1957), but his social and political views have reached a wider public through Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971). |