Pioneering behavioral psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990) was born on this day in the beautiful river valley of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He later described his upbringing as “warm and stable.”

“I liked school,” he recalled in his autobiography. “I was a constant problem for the janitor, because I would arrive early and ask to be let in.”

With a passion for literature and art, Skinner first considered becoming a writer. After reading the work of H. G. Wells, he began to believe that science could change the world as powerfully as art.

“Everything I touched,” Skinner said, “suggested new and promising things to do.”

Building on the conditioned response research of Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson, Skinner helped redefine psychology. His work examined the relationship between behavior and the stimuli of its environment. He proposed that humans could learn to succeed through positive reinforcement.

He explained the principle simply: “The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the behavior will occur again.”

His research led to the development of the famous Skinner Box, a controlled environment used to study behavior. Working with rats and pigeons, Skinner believed that rewarded behavior could shape learning and help build a better world.

He explored these ideas further in the controversial novel Walden Two (1948), which imagined a society guided by behavioral science.

Later in life, Skinner wrote the upbeat book Enjoy Old Age: A Practical Guide (1983), observing: “Old age is rather like another country. You will enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go.”