FRED S. KELLER: A GENERALIZED CONDITIONED REINFORCER

Abstract

This tribute to Fred S. Keller describes how he dedicated his career to applying scientific knowledge about behavior to the improvement of education. In his later years he acknowledged his disappointment at the failure of his Personalized System of Instruction to be generally applied in universities and in school systems, and pointed out reasons why education has remained untouched by applications of the science of behavior. He realized that science must go beyond the study of individual behavior and must seek an understanding of behavior in whole cultures, adding to its many successful remedial techniques procedures that extend in scope to total populations.Key words: Fred Keller, Personalized System of Instruction, PSI, applications of the science of behavior, education