What is B. F. Skinner?
{{for2|the movie|[[Skinner (movie)|Skinner]]}} {{Infobox Scientist |name = Burrhus Frederic Skinner |image = B.F._Skinner_at_Harvard_circa_1950.jpg |birth_date = {{birth date|1904|3|20|mf=y}} |birth_place = [[Susquehanna, Pennsylvania]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1990|8|18|1904|3|20|mf=y}} |death_place = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |nationality = [[United States|American]] |field = [[Psychologist]] |work_institutions = [[University of Minnesota]]<br>[[Indiana University]]<br>[[Harvard University]] |alma_mater = [[Hamilton College]]<br>[[Harvard University]] |known_for = [[Behavior analysis]]<br>[[Operant conditioning]]<br>[[Radical behaviorism]]<br>[[Verbal Behavior]]<br>[[Operant conditioning chamber]] |influences = [[Charles Darwin]]<br>[[Ivan Pavlov]]<br>[[Ernst Mach]]<br>[[Jacques Loeb]] |prizes = }} '''Burrhus Frederic Skinner''' (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was a leading [[Americans|American]] [[psychologist]] and author. Skinner was the leading [[Behaviorism|behaviorist]] in psychology; he built on the work of [[John B. Watson]], and added the idea of [[operant conditioning]]. These two American psychologists paid no attention to [[mental]] states and '[[thinking]]' (terms they thought were unscientific), but dealt only with visible behaviors. Skinner's work had effects on education ([[programmed learning]]) and on [[behavior therapy]] for various psychological problems. He was the [[Edgar Pierce]] Professor of Psychology at [[Harvard University]] from 1958 until his retirement in 1974, and then Emeritus Professor until 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/skinner.htm |title=Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904–1990) Swenson, Christa 1999 |access-date=2008-10-16 |archive-date=2007-04-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404123924/http://www.muskingum.edu/%7Epsych/psycweb/history/skinner.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Skinner was also a [[social]] philosopher who wanted to change society, and wrote a [[eutopia]]n nove