WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT SKINNER, THIRTY YEARS ON?

The thirtieth anniversary of Skinner’s death is taken as an occasion to visualize his presence in psychology today and remember some of his greatest contributions. In general, it can be said that Skinner is conspicuous by his absence, as there are many Skinnerian themes that barely mention him, and yet his presence is missed as his contributions would solve a number of important problems of psychology as a science. Some Skinnerian themes with hardly anything about Skinner are addictions to games and machines, the newly rediscovered auditory projective test (white noise), behavioral economics, and the new unconscious based on environmental control. Skinner’s fundamental contributions such as behavioral shaping, operant behavior as a functional unit, and selection by consequences remain peremptory for current psychology in its dualistic, neurocentric, and essentialist drift. The irony is that these contributions, revolutionary in their day, are taken for granted today, and their theoretical and philosophical scope are not perceived. We suggest some aspects of their importance beyond the practical application already incorporated.