I heard once that B. F. Skinner ran for president of APA and lost and that he was so hurt, he refused to run again. Does anybody know if this is correct or why he never was president?

-- C.Eugene Walker (genewalker@iname.com), February 28, 2004

Answers

[Posted for AR by cdg.]

See Skinner's "A Matter of Consequences" pp. 124-126 for his version of events. According to his own account, his name appeared on the ballot several times in the 1950s (he ran against Harry Harlow the year Harlow won), he did not win during this time, and at some point - learning that it was a lot of work that he wasn't interested in - made sure that his name was not on the ballot again. So far as I know, it was not a matter of being hurt - he just lost interest in it and had different priorities as to how to spend his time.

-- Alexandra Rutherford (alexr@yorku.ca), March 01, 2004.