Besides, he never liked his given first name, and much preferred 'Fred'.
Anecdote:
I got this story from C. B. (Charlie) Ferster; one of Skinner's first
grad students:
Ferster (a frequent visitor at Skinner's home) once walked into
Skinner's living room to find Skinner seated on a sofa with a sign
around his neck saying FRED.
On Dec 16, 2009, at 12:29 PM, Jim Dougan wrote:
At 12:22 PM 12/16/2009, you wrote:
I could swear that your students will not know.Btw,why is he the
only behavioral scienist we address with his first two inititials?
We do not say P Brandon,C Green, S Black,or C Hull,so why the BF
Skinner?
Was there a Jaywalking episode where Jay Leno asked people what the
BF stands for in BF Skinner?
I am told by my graduate advisor (F.K. McSweeney) that it is
something of a Harvard tradition to publish that way. Herrnstein
sometimes went as R.J. Herrnstein. Stevens went by S.S. Stevens,
etc. They are respectively called "Fran" Dick" and "Smitty" by
friends - but they published using initials. Of course, Skinner's
friends called him "Fred" so he does not break the pattern.
Of course there is JER Staddon and MEP Seligman if we want to go to
3 initials.
-- J.D. Dougan
Paul Brandon
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Minnesota State University, Mankato
paul.bran...@mnsu.edu
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