12489Un commentairehttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionary-quotes.com%2Fgive-me-a-child-and-i-ll-shape-him-into-anything-b-urrhus-f-rederic-skinner%2FGive+me+a+child+and+I%27ll+shape+him+into+anything.+B%28urrhus%29+F%28rederic%29+Skinner2008-11-23+23%3A13%3A37Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9rick+J%C3%A9z%C3%A9gouhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.dictionary-quotes.com%2Fgive-me-a-child-and-i-ll-shape-him-into-anything-b-urrhus-f-rederic-skinner à “Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything. B(urrhus) F(rederic) Skinner”

1. Rolf Lindgren
   27 December 2009 à 10:56 pm

   

   This is a misquote, Skinner never said anything comparable to this.

   His philosophical predecessor, John B. Watson, though, said

   Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.

   John B. Watson, Behaviorism (1930), p. 82