The Four Consequences

In the 1930s, B. F. Skinner showed that voluntary behavior is shaped by its consequences, or what happens after it. The idea grew out of Edward Thorndike’s law of effect. Every consequence does two things. It adds or removes a stimulus. And that stimulus is either pleasant or unpleasant. Set the two dials and watch a rat’s lever pressing rise or fall inside Skinner’s chamber. Then test yourself on real-life examples.