Skinner (B.F. Skinner)

B.F. Skinner was a 20th-century American psychologist known for his work on behaviorism—the idea that behaviors are learned and shaped by environment. He developed the concept of operant conditioning, where actions are influenced by their consequences: behaviors followed by rewards tend to increase, while those followed by punishments tend to decrease. Skinner used experiments with animals, like rats and pigeons, to demonstrate how reinforcement and punishment can control behavior. His work emphasizes understanding how environmental factors influence actions, which has applications in education, behavior modification, and understanding human and animal behavior.