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From: harnad@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Stevan Harnad)
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Subject: PSYCOLOQUY V1 #11 (APA Press Release: B.F. Skinner Speech, 100 lines)
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Date: 24 Aug 90 17:47:28 GMT
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PSYCOLOQUY                  Fri, 24 Aug 90       Volume 1 : Issue  11
      APA Press Release: B.F. Skinner

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: APASDCF%GWUVM.BITNET@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU
Subject: Press Release on B.F. Skinner

                                               Date: August 24, 1990
                                            Contact: Public Affairs Office
                                                     (202) 955-7710

   RENOWNED PSYCHOLOGIST B.F. SKINNER'S LAST SPEECH WAS TO HIS COLLEAGUES

       Delivered Keynote Address to American Psychological Association
                       Annual Convention Last Weekend

     WASHINGTON -- Well aware that he had only a short time to live, B.F.
Skinner, Ph.D., widely considered to be America's pre-eminent psychologist,
made a considerable personal effort to address his professional colleagues at
the 98th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in
Boston on August 10.  It was his last public appearance.

     Agreeing to be the keynote speaker at the convention was, according to
Raymond D. Fowler, Ph.D., APA chief executive officer, a generous and
courageous act on Dr. Skinner's part.  "He was in the last stages of his
illness," Fowler noted, "and very limited in strength, but he accepted our
invitation to speak and chose that occasion to make a very important
statement about his views of psychology as a discipline."

     Dr. Skinner, an APA member since 1926, was given a special Presidential
Citation for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology at the opening session of
the convention.  He addressed an overflow ballroom audience of his
professional colleagues for about 15 minutes.  In his remarks, Dr. Skinner
described the APA citation as "probably the greatest honor in my life."  But
he also offered some characteristically sharp words for cognitive science,
which he dubbed "the creationism of psychology."

     Dr. Skinner concluded his remarks by once again contrasting the
cognitive approach which focuses on thinking and his own approach which
emphasizes the analysis of behavior:  "Looking back on my life -- sixty-two
years as a psychologist -- I would say that what I have tried to do, that
what I have been doing is to make that point clear...Any evidence that I've
been successful in that is what I would like to be remembered by."

     Commenting on Dr. Skinner's death last Saturday at the age of 86, Dr.
Fowler of the APA said, "While his loss is great, we are very fortunate to
have had him as a brilliant and creative contributor to psychology for over
half the history of our discipline."

     Lewis P. Lipsitt, Ph.D., APA executive director for science, added that
"perhaps Professor Skinner's greatest contribution to the science of
psychology was his articulation of the principle that behavior has
consequences, and that these consequences, called reinforcement, can have
important and lasting effects on subsequent development and behavior.  He
collected systematic data relating to this principle, and believed that a
humane approach to training children, and to human problems, must take into
consideration the reality of rewards in shaping behavior."

     (A full transcript of Dr. Skinner's remarks is available from the APA
Public Affairs Office.)

     The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the
largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in
the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists.
APA's membership includes more than 102,000 clinicians, researchers,
educators, consultants, and students.  Through its divisions in 46 subfields
of psychology and affiliations with 55 state and Canadian provincial
psychological associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as
a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare.

------------------------------
                             PSYCOLOQUY
                           is sponsored by
                     the Science Directorate of
                the American Psychological Association
                           (202) 955-7653

                              Co-Editors:

(scientific discussion)         (professional/clinical discussion)

    Stevan Harnad          Perry London, Dean,     Cary Cherniss (Assoc Ed.)
Psychology Department  Graduate School of Applied   Graduate School of Applied
Princeton University   and Professional Psychology  and Professional Psychology
                            Rutgers University           Rutgers University

                           Assistant Editors:

     Malcolm Bauer                               John Pizutelli
  Psychology Department                      Psychology Department
  Princeton University                         Rutgers University

End of PSYCOLOQUY Digest
******************************