Word.ws English Dictionary

Skinner box

Skinner box noun: a box or cage in which a subject (usually an animal) may be isolated from outside influences and studied; used in operant conditioning experiments where the subject can operate a lever to obtain a reward or avoid a painful shock.

Noun

Skinner box (plural Skinner boxes)

  1. (behavioral science) A box or cage in which a subject (usually an animal) may be isolated from outside influences and studied; used in operant conditioning experiments where the subject can operate a lever to obtain a reward or avoid a painful shock.

Forms of Skinner box

pluralSkinner boxes

Origin of Skinner box

From Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990), its inventor.

Questions about Skinner box

What does Skinner box mean?
Skinner box means a box or cage in which a subject (usually an animal) may be isolated from outside influences and studied; used in operant conditioning experiments where the subject can operate a lever to obtain a reward or avoid a painful shock.
What part of speech is Skinner box?
Skinner box is a noun.
What is the plural of Skinner box?
The plural of Skinner box is Skinner boxes.

Words near Skinner box in the dictionary

  1. skinned someone alive
  2. skinned the cat
  3. skinned the lamb
  4. skinned up
  5. skinner
  6. Skinner box
  7. Skinner boxes
  8. Skinner's ground mantis
  9. Skinner's ground mantises
  10. Skinner's maxim
  11. Skinnerian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Skinner box (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Skinner box.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skinner_box. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.