Schedules of Reinforcement (Official B. F. Skinner Foundation Reprint Series / paperback edition)

I have been collecting some of the classics in psychology and sociology and this is a great addition. Many Psychology 100/101 textbooks give expedited explanations for schedules of reinforment. Through that is fine for teaching an intro class, you want to add a little more and learn students know how Skinner came up with these concepts. If you are teaching a Psychology of Learning course and your department has a lot of funding, you could get some great ideas from this classic text. Be aware of the techical jargon. There is a lot of it. But, if you are well versed in the language of science and psychology, then the jargon will not bother you.This is an excellent addition to classic works in psychology.

This book is a classic that arrived on time at a very attractive price. This book should be in the personal library of any psychologist or graduate student of psychology and covers the basic research on the conditioning that influences us all, schedules of reinforcement.

Best book for ANY animal trainer!!!

Good reference material. Bought as a Kindle book, works well as longer as you work through the contents page / function.

I have just finished reading Pavlov's 1929 Conditioned Reflexes and was struck by the difference in styles. Pavlov's book presents data in exhaustive detail, Skinner is more a theoretical discussion beginning with his discovery that he could save time and money by rewarding his pigeons only some of the time.

The contingent relationship between actions and their consequences lies at the heart of Skinner's experimental analysis of behavior. Particular patterns of behavior emerge depending upon the contingencies established. Ferster and Skinner examined the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on behavior.An extraordinary work, Schedules of Reinforcement represents over 70,000 hours of research primarily with pigeons, though the principles have now been experimentally verified with many species including human beings. At first glance, the book appears to be an atlas of schedules. And so it isÑthe most exhaustive in existence. But it is also a reminder of the power of describing and explaining behavior through an analysis of measurable and manipulative behavior-environment relations without appealing to physiological mechanisms in the brain. As en exemplar and source for the further study of behavioral phenomena, the book illustrates the scientific philosophy that Skinner and Ferster adopted: that a science is best built from the ground up, from a firm foundation of facts that can eventually be summarized as scientific laws.Hope this helps.