B.F. Skinner

The concept of 'mind' is a verbal invention, an explanatory fiction.

We are the product of our environment.

The technology of behavior is not a threat to freedom, but a means to achieve it.

The traditional view of man is an obstacle to a science of behavior.

We must design a culture in which men will behave in ways that are good for them.

The science of behavior is not interested in what goes on inside the organism, but in what the organism does.

The human organism is not a mere puppet, but a complex system that interacts with its environment.

The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do.

I did not direct my life. I didn't design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That's what life is.

The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.

A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.

The only geniuses produced by the chaos of society are those who do something about it. Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.

The human species is on a thin thread. We're barely making it.

I could make a pigeon a high achiever by reinforcing it on a proper schedule.

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.

The rat is always right.

The world is full of things that are not my fault but nevertheless my responsibility.

I am sometimes asked, 'Do you think of yourself as you think of the organisms you study?' The answer is yes.

The only difference between rats and people is that rats learn from experience.

The environment shapes behavior, but behavior also shapes the environment.