Burrhus Frederic Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20th 1904 - August 18th 1990) is a Psychologue, a thinker and a American Polémiste . Founder of the radical Behaviorism, it was strongly influenced by work of Ivan Pavlov and those of the first behaviorist John Watson. He was elected by his pars like one of the most important psychologists of the XXe century, and also like one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century.
Biography
Skinner was born in Pennsylvania with the the United States. Even if it obtained a diploma of English language to the Université of Hamilton, it decided to follow studies to the Université of Harvard, where it obtained its doctorate of Psychologie in 1931. After having taught in the universities of Harvard and the Minnesota, Skinner becomes the director of the laboratory of Psychologie to the Université of Indiana in 1945. It turns over in 1948 in the university where it was formed with psychology, and dies of the Leucémie on August 18th 1990.
Work and the contribution of Skinner
Presentation
Its major theoretical contribution in Psychologie is the concept of operative Conditionnement, which it distinguishes from the traditional conditioning Pavlovian, or answering, or traditional. From this point of view, the behaviors are selected by their effects on the environment. A class of Comportement constitutes operative if the probability of appearance of these answers is flexible by the handling of the contingencies of reinforcement. For example, it will be said that an action is conditioned in an operative way when its frequency increases in the behavior of an organization because of its positive consequences for the organization. In the traditional Conditionnement a stimulus involves an answer, in the operative Conditionnement, one reinforces an answer by the handling of the contingencies. This concept makes it possible to integrate the spontaneousness of the organization within an explanatory framework mechanist.He is the inventor of the Boîte of Skinner, device of laboratory simplifying the study of the mechanisms of conditioning.
See also: Box of Skinner
Criticisms
Skinner wanted to extend this theory of the Comportement to the Mankind (the stimuli are only more complex, and form a “situation then”). Thus, according to the linguist Noam Chomsky, the theory behaviorist is insufficient to give an account of characteristics of the language. Indeed, language acquisition by confrontation in the medium in which the individual grew would not give an account of the production of completely particular statements like the Poésie, or in a broader way of the capacity than the individuals have to produce not yet marked statements. Chomsky proposes to name this “linguistic ability” a generative grammar. This proposal itself, if it generated number of later research, severely was however criticized then. The argumentation of Chomsky, often moved, nevertheless caused principal to discredit, with the eyes of readers being unaware of the real contents of the book Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957), the functional of language , complex analysis, advanced by the radical behaviorist.It should in addition be noted that Skinner had a considerable influence on the methods of training of the languages. The audio-oral methods and the language laboratories draw their sources at Skinner and Leonard Bloomfield.
Works
He in particular wrote:- a utopian test “Walden Two”, 1948.
- experimental Analysis of the behavior , 1969.
- Across freedom and dignity , 1971.
- Science and human behavior .