“Do not intervene between a person and the consequences of their own behavior.” PersonsBehaviorConsequence Author:B. F. Skinner
“To say that a man is sinful because he sins is to give an operational definition of sin. To say that he sins because he is sinful is to trace his behavior to a supposed inner trait. But whether or not a person engages in the kind of behavior called sinful depends upon circumstances which are not mentioned in either question. The sin assigned as an inner possession (the sin a person "knows") is to be found in a history of reinforcement.” KnowsMenGivingKindPersonsFoundSinDependsCircumstancesBehaviorDefinitionsPossessionFree WillTraitsReinforcement Author:B. F. Skinner
“Unable to understand how or why the person we see behaves as he does, we attribute his behavior to a person we cannot see, whose behavior we cannot explain either but about whom we are not inclined to ask questions.” PersonsDoeAsksJusticeBehaviorSocial JusticeBehaveAttributes Author:B. F. Skinner
“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.” WayPersonsHas BeensGivenPunishmentPsychologicalBehave Author:B. F. Skinner
“Fame is also won at the expense of others. Even the well-deserved honors of the scientist or man of learning are unfair to many persons of equal achievements who get none. When one man gets a place in the sun, the others are put in a denser shade. From the point of view of the whole group there's no gain whatsoever, and perhaps a loss.” MenWellsPersonsWholeLossViewsSunGroupsHonorFameEqualAchievementGainsScientistPoint Of ViewExpensesOne ManShadeUnfair Book:WALDEN TWO Source: WALDEN TWO
“In the traditional view, a person is free. He is autonomous in the sense that his behavior is uncaused. He can therefore be held responsible for what he does and justly punished if he offends. That view, together with its associated practices, must be re-examined when a scientific analysis reveals unsuspected controlling relations between behavior and environment.” IfsPersonsDoeTogetherViewsPracticeEnvironmentBehaviorRelationResponsibleTraditionalAnalysisAutonomous Author:B. F. Skinner
“A person's genetic endowment, a product of the evolution of the species, is said to explain part of the workings of his mind and his personal history the rest.” MindPersonsSaidProductsEvolutionSpeciesEndowmentPersonal History Author:B. F. Skinner
“Except when physically restrained, a person is least free or dignified when he is under threat of punishment, and unfortunately most people often are.” PeoplePersonsThreatPunishment Author:B. F. Skinner
“Many social practices essential to the welfare of the species involve the control of one person by another, and no one can suppress them who has any concern for human achievements” HumansPersonsSocialPracticeSocietyEssentialsAchievementConcernSpeciesWelfare Author:B. F. Skinner
