Association for Behavior Analysis International

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) has been among the most eminent, prolific, and widely cited figures in modern psychology. Throughout the course of his distinguished career (1930-1990), he has also been the recipient of numerous awards and honors from various associations (e.g., American Educational Research Association), societies (e.g., Pavlovian Society of North America), and colleges and universities (e.g., Hamilton College). Among his many distinctions, he has been recognized for his (a) experimental (e.g., Howard Crosby Warren Medal, 1942), (b) applied (e.g., National Association for Retarded Citizens first annual award, 1978), and (c) conceptual (e.g., Humanist of the Year award, American Humanist Society, 1972) contributions; both nationally (e.g., National Medal of Science, 1968) and internationally (e.g., International Award of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation for Mental Retardation, 1971), within psychology (e.g., American Psychology Association, Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology, 1990) and within the general sciences (e.g., President's Award, New York Academy of Science, 1985). In this paper, we (a) examine and discuss the nature of these and other awards and honors bestowed on Skinner as we (b) compare and contrast them to the categories and content areas of his works and contributions. Our aim is to better understand of the nature of Skinners work, and the behavior of scientists more generally. Such an understanding may contribute to a descriptive, empirical science of science consistent with Skinners empirical epistemology.

As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of B.F. Skinners birth, it is useful to consider his legacy not only for the field of behavior analysis, but for society at large. In this presentation, I examine several important intersections between B.F. Skinners work and the society in which it was embedded, using popular press material as a lens through which to magnify and explore these intersections. Specifically, I present results from a comprehensive analysis of material from newspapers, popular magazines, and books about Skinner and/or behavior analysis from the 1930s to the 1990s. I examine his impact on the popular topics of parenting, education, and self-help. I argue that the emergence and development of behavior analytic expertise influenced both personal and collective experience in ways construed as both positive and negative. Moreover, the development of a scientifically legitimated set of behavior change practices gave the public a new language with which to discuss, debate, and challenge practices that had, in some cases, existed informally for some time. In turn, this public discourse affected the very practices and practitioners themselves, solidifying the professional identity of behavior analysts and setting behavior analysis apart from other behavioral approaches.

B. F. Skinner is often credited as being the inventor of the cumulative recorder. While it is clear that Skinner was central to popularizing cumulative recording as a method of depicting response rates and developing some of the technology eventually incorporated in the commerical cumulative recorders, he was anticipated in some of his designs by late 19th- and early 20th century animal researchers. This paper will describe some pre-Skinnerian cumulative recorders and show published cumulative records from the early 1900s.