Living with Children: The value of a reward

Psychologist B.F. Skinner, the formulator of behavior modification theory, was attempting to prove that the same principles that govern the behavior of amoeba, planaria, rats, dogs, and monkeys also govern the behavior of human beings. A very Darwinian proposition, indeed. What my graduate school professors conveniently “forgot” to tell me: Skinner failed to prove his hypothesis, and no …