SKINNER Frederick Berres (Skinner Burrhus Frederic)

(1904-1990)
Born March 20, 1904 in Saskuehanne (pc. Pennsylvania). After graduating from Hamilton College, tried to write prose and poetic works, but soon came to the conclusion that his talents lie in another area. Nevertheless, in 1948 published a novel, Walden Two (Walden Two), describing a utopian community. He graduated from Harvard University, receiving a degree psychologist. Significant influence on the young scholar had a biologist U.Dzh.Kroze that attracted him to experiment on animals. Skinner taught at Minnesota and Indiana University, in 1948 became a professor at Harvard University.
Main work of Skinner - The behavior of organisms (The Behavior of Organisms, 1938), where he outlines the principles of 'operant conditioning'. They are most easily understood by examining a typical experiment Skinner. Rat, whose weight reduced to 80-90% of normal, placed in a device called a 'skinnerovskim box'. This is a close cell, providing an opportunity only for those actions rats, which the experimenter can control or observe. The box has an opening through which food is served, and the lever. The rat must repeatedly press the lever in order to get a portion of food. This is called a push of operant response. How does a rat presses a lever - paw, nose, tail, it does not matter - operant reaction remains the same, as is the same result - the emergence of food. Encouraging (giving food) for a certain number or the push of a push of a certain interval, we can obtain stable ways of responding.

An operator response in skinnerovskom understanding should be distinguished from automatic, purely reflex reactions associated with the unconditioned and conditioned reflexes. Operator response - effect of random and targeted. However, Skinner defines the focus in terms of feedback (ie. impact on the behavior of its consequences), rather than in terms of goals, intentions, or other internal states - mental or physiological. In his view, the use of the psychology of these 'internal parameters' involves the introduction of questionable assumptions, added nothing to the empirical laws that bind the observed behavior with the observed impacts environment. These laws are a real means of prediction and control of human behavior and animal. Skinner emphasized that 'objection to inner states is not that they do not exist, and that they are not important for the functional analysis'. In this analysis, the probability of operator reaction appears as a function of external influences - both past and present.
Skinner was initiated learning through special machines, created by him and his staff. Learning machines evaluate student responses to the proposed issue. Thus, the desired behavior of a student receives an immediate reinforcement.
According to Skinner, operant conditioning can be applied not only to control the behavior of other people, but also to control their own behavior. Self-Control can be achieved by creating conditions to ensure that the desired behavior in reinforcements
. In addition to the behavior of organisms, . among the major works of Skinner - Science and behavior (Science and Behavior, . 1953), . Verbal behavior (Verbal Behavior, . 1957), . On the other side of freedom and dignity (Beyond Freedom and Dignity, . 1971) and About Behaviorism (About Behaviorism, . 1974),
.
Skinner died in Cambridge (ea. Massachusetts) August 18, 1990.