BF Skinner

B.F. Skinner was an author, inventor, philosopher and psychologist. B.F. Skinner was most known for his experimental analysis of psychological behaviorism. Skinner was responsible for the advancement of the field behaviorism, while he was the Chair of the Psychology Department of two universities. Skinner discovered and advanced the rate of response. B.F. Skinner is regarded as the father of experimental behaviorism. and a prolific author who wrote 21 books and 180 articles. Burrhus Fredric Skinner was born March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. His father, William, was a lawyer and his mother, Grace, was a housewife. He had a younger brother, Edward, died at age sixteen due to a cerebral hemorrhage. In high school, Skinner was interested in English literature to the point where he even argued with his teacher that Frances Bacon wrote some of William Shakespeare’s plays. Skinner was so interested in literature that after high school he enrolled into Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. While Attending Hamilton College, Skinner joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Due to his athesist views, Skinner was very critical of his religious school while writing for his school newspaper. After graduating Hamilton College with a B.A. in English literature he moved back with his parents. He began writing short newspaper articles while he was at home. His goal was to become a fiction author when he first graduated. Skinner felt he lacked world experience and did not have a strong personal perspective for fictional writing. After a year, Skinner decided to move to New York City. While working as a bookstore clerk he first came across the writings of Pavlov and Watson. Watson’s Behaviorism inspired Skinner to enroll into the Psychology Department of Harvard University. During his time at Harvard he met a man named William Crozier. Crozier, whom later became his mentor, was the Chair of the newly started Physiology Department at Harvard. In