B.F. Skinner is widely regarded as one of the most influential psychologists in history; his radical behaviorism dominated American psychology from the 1950s to the 1980s. The great contributions of Skinner, however, may never have occurred if his early aspirations of becoming a writer had been successful. His transformation from literati to empirical scientist would forever transform American psychology. Skinner, as an author, professor, and inventor shaped the course of psychology through his enthusiastic promotion of psychology as a science of behavior; opposition to Skinner's behaviorism led to a lot of the neobehavioralist work such as that of Bandura and also to cognitive explanations for the basis of behavior. The story of B.F. Skinner is a tale of failure, scientific discovery, success, and humanity. This work is only a compendium of the many texts devoted to B.F. Skinner, hopefully it will inspire the reader to reference these texts for a complete portrait of Skinner as a man in addition to his work as a scientist.
