Skinner's Importance in Psychology

Skinner's contributions to psychology and science, though numerous, fall under one of the two general categories below:

Operant Behavior-Applications

Operant conditioning, because of its simplicity, provides researchers in many different fields with a useful empirical method for observing behavior in organisms. The lack of a complex theory has allowed the principles of operant conditioning to be applied to education, child rearing, and criminal reform (Demorest, 2005). Skinner's theory has also been found to have applications in behavioral pharmacology research where it is used to measure dosage dependent effects of medication(Blackman,D.E.,Pellon,R.,1993). Skinner's theory is also used in the field of organizational behavior where it is used to measure the effects of different types of compensation on worker motivation.

Animal Research and Inventions

Skinner's first research subject was the rat and he continued experiments with rats, later adding pigeons as subjects, for the majority of his career. The invention for which Skinner is best known, the "Skinner Box", was created out necessity; Skinner needed an insulated environment to eliminate the possibility of external environmental interference. The Skinner box became popular among researchers because it provided a controlled environment for animal research(Capshew, 1993). Project Pigeon was a war time effort by Skinner to train pigeons to serve as a missile guidance system. Although Skinner did train the pigeons to accurately guide the missiles, the military did not utilize his ideas(Capshew, 1993). In 1944, Skinner's wife had their second daughter; he invented the "baby-tender", later marketed as the "Aircrib", to help his wife care for their daughter. Skinner attempted to market the "baby-tender" commerically, but it enjoyed limited success as many thought it insensitive. The device did,however, enjoy some success among psychologists and progressive minded women. (Demorest, 2005)