Burrhus Frederic Skinner was a pioneering psychologist. His provocative work led to the emergence of a new understanding of human behaviour while changing the contexts of how society viewed everything – from penitentiaries to childcare. Skinner deliberated that free will was an illusion and that all our actions were a result of conditioning — one that could be achieved through the doctrine of reinforcement and punishment. This translates to ‘sculpting’ connotations that boost, or dampen, particular actions. Skinner termed this approach of deducing behaviour as ‘radical behaviourism.’
When Skinner (1904-1990) published his autobiography, Particulars of My Life (1976), he not only went so far as to question whether classical Pavlovian conditioning should be taken seriously, or studied at all. That he broke new ground in behavioural and instrumental, or operant, conditioning was apparent. Add to this the fact that he emerged as the most noted behaviourist of his time — a steadfast champion and proponent of his own school of thought — and, you’ve a textbook script.
The fact is: Skinner’s sharp mental acumen, or ken for detail, was focused on the organism’s observable behaviour. With his gadget — the Skinner box — appropriately named after him, Skinner delved, explained and reasoned ‘target’ behaviour and its innate, intricate structure like no one else before, or after him. “Behaviour,” wrote Skinner (1904-1990) in his first book, The Behaviour of Organisms (1938), “is what an organism is doing — or, more accurately, what is observed by another organism to be doing. But, to say that a given sample of activity falls within the field of behaviour simply because it normally comes under observation would misrepresent the significance of this property.” He elaborated:
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