Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904–1990) As a young adult, Skinner had hoped to become a writer. When he graduated from college, he set up a study in the attic of his parents’ home and waited for inspiration to strike. After a year of “frittering” away his time, he decided that there were better ways to learn about human nature (Moore, 2005a). As Skinner (1967) later wrote, “A writer might portray human behavior accurately, but he did not understand it. I was to remain interested in human behavior, but the literary method had failed me; I would turn to the scientific. . . . The relevant science appeared to be psychology, though I had only the vaguest idea of what that meant.”

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