Summary
Contents
Subject index
Behaviorists, or more precisely Skinnerians, commonly consider Skinner's work to have been misrepresented, misunderstood, and to some extent defamed. In this book, the author clarifies the work of B F Skinner, and puts it into historical and philosophical context. Though not a biography, the book discusses Skinner himself, in brief. But the bulk of the book illuminats Skinner's contributions to psychology, his philosophy of science, his experimental research program (logical positivism) and the behavioral principles that emerged from it, and applied aspects of his work. It also rebuts criticism of Skinner's work, including radical behaviorism, and discusses key developments by others that have derived from it.
B. F. Skinner: Expert Self-Manager
B. F. Skinner: Expert Self-Manager
Much of daily life is about avoiding “temptation” (e.g., overeating, drugs and alcohol, gambling, unprotected sex) and forcing ourselves to do tasks we usually don't enjoy (e.g., getting up for work, paying taxes, cleaning the house, seeing the dentist). These tasks often involve some sort of “sacrifice” on our part for the good of others as well as ourselves. And the payoffs are usually deferred—from months to several decades. However, in our pursuit of doing “what's right,” we almost always face these challenges alone. The reason society isn't there to lend support has to do with its fundamental beliefs about the causes of behavior. In particular, most of society embraces the notion that human beings are ...
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