0.16 Learning theory and personality development  (Page 4/24)

In 1970, American Psychologist listed Skinner second only to Freud in his influence on twentieth-century psychology, and in 1989 Skinner seemed to express some pride in being cited more often than Freud (Bjork, 1997). Near the end of 1989, however, Skinner was diagnosed with leukemia. He continued to work as best he could, and expressed no anxiety about his approaching death. In August, 1990 he spoke for 20 minutes to a standing-room only audience at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Eight days later he died (Bjork, 1997).

Placing B. F. Skinner in Context: Radical Behaviorism

B. F. Skinner shares at least one thing in common with Sigmund Freud: he provided a target for the behavioral and cognitive theorists who followed him. Freud, of course, was a target for everyone in psychiatry and psychology, including Skinner. Although some might say that Skinner established the experimental analysis of behavior, as far as personality is concerned, Freud also thought that he was being very scientific in his studies of human behavior and the human mind. In order to absolutely define his understanding of behavioral principles, Skinner rejected anything he could not observe. Although this allowed him to claim a level of precision never before possible in the study of behavior, it disallowed the study of the mind, consciousness, thinking, emotion, the very things that most people consider to be the domain of psychology! It also disallowed doing many types of research on humans, and so Skinner, his students, and his colleagues focused much of their effort on studying rats and pigeons.

Like Freud before him, Skinner faced his critics and defended his theories. He certainly had solid scientific data to support his position, but when he went so far as to propose that he could solve the problems of society (in his novel Walden Two ), perhaps he was asking for criticism. Nonetheless, in psychology today, behavioral and cognitive approaches to understanding mental illness and conducting psychotherapy are popular and effective. Although behavioral and cognitive theorists incorporate the very things Skinner rejected (emotions, thought, etc.), they have built upon the unquestioned behavioral principles studied first by Skinner. In addition, the application of many of Skinner’s theories, such as reinforcement and punishment, has had a major influence on child rearing and education, or at least in our understanding of those processes.

Although Skinner was not the first behaviorist, that honor goes primarily to John B. Watson (since Pavlov was first and foremost a physiologist), his name is typically the first that comes to mind when recognizing behaviorism as one of three great forces in psychology (the others being psychodynamic and humanistic psychology). Thus, Skinner stands with Freud and with Rogers and Maslow as a giant in the history of psychology.

Scientific Analysis of Behavior and Personality

Late in Skinner’s life (in 1988 to be exact), his former graduate student A. Charles Catania had this to say: