A virtual poster presentation for Radford University's 29th Annual Student Engagement Forum. B. F. Skinner was one of the most influential psychologists in the field and is still widely recognized today for his achievements in behavioral psychology. The present poster details Skinner’s personal life, from his childhood years through adulthood, which largely influenced his interest in human behavior and his developments in the field. Additionally, the present poster outlines the influence Skinner had on psychology as a developing science and his role in behaviorism. Skinner’s life story is an inspirational one. His undergraduate degree and interests were unrelated to the work he is most famously known for in psychology, yet it played a significant role in the contributions he would later make in his field. Upon graduating from college with a degree in English Literature, he took a year off and began writing, unsuccessfully, about human behavior. During what he calls the “dark years”, he was living at home trying to make progress as a writer, and his parents were concerned about his lack of a job (Moore, 2008). Skinner immersed himself in literature progressive social criticisms, modernist literature, philosopher Bertrand Russell, Francis Bacon, Pierre Duhem and others, who inspired him to study behavior scientifically (Moore, 2008). That fall, he enrolled in a psychology Ph.D. program at Harvard University; it was there that he had the tools and opportunities to publish books, invent, combine principles of biology with psychology, establish a new framework of behaviorism, and much more. Many people dream of having a career like Skinner. At the end of his career, the American Psychological Association awarded him with the Lifetime Achievement Award, just 10 days before his death, acknowledging his legacy.
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