Behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to recur.
Thorndike's 1898 puzzle-box cats. The law of effect became a major foundation for later operant-conditioning and reinforcement research, including Skinner's work.
In practice
- A support agent who is thanked for a workaround uses it again; one who is corrected for it does not.
- A child who receives attention for interrupting interrupts more, and the attention was intended as correction.