We do not choose survival as a value, it chooses us.
B. F. SkinnerRead
I may say that the only differences I expect to see revealed between the behavior of the rat and man (aside from enormous differences of complexity) lie in the field of verbal behavior.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Skinner suggests that while humans and rats are vastly different, their behaviors can be largely similar except for verbal abilities.
B. F. Skinner's quote highlights the profound similarities between human and animal behavior, particularly emphasizing that the primary distinction lies in the capability for verbal communication. Despite the complexities that come with human existence, such as culture and language, the fundamental behaviors we exhibit may not be as different from those of simpler creatures like rats, which points to the underlying principles of behaviorism that focus on observable actions rather than introspective thoughts.
Themes
BehaviorComplexityCommunicationPsychologyRatsHumans
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a psychology class to illustrate behaviorism.
More from B. F. Skinner
All quotes →Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
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No theory changes what it is a theory about; man remains what he has always been.
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I am opposed to the military use of animals. I am also opposed to the military use of men.
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The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.
B. F. SkinnerRead
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.
B. F. SkinnerRead
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