Thorndike's Law of Effect states that

• A. Consequences do not influence future behavior.
• B. What is reinforced will occur more often and what is punished will occur less often.
• C. Aversives are never used in training.
• D. Behavior is random and not influenced by outcomes.

Answer: (B)

Consequences shape future behavior. When a behavior is followed by a satisfying result, it’s more likely to be repeated; when it’s followed by an unpleasant result, it’s less likely to be repeated. This idea—that reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior and punishment decreases it—is Thorndike’s Law of Effect.

In practice, this is why training dollars to dog training: we reinforce desired behaviors so they occur more often, and we reduce the occurrence of undesired behaviors by using consequences that deter them. The option that states what is reinforced will occur more often and what is punished will occur less often captures this exact relationship.

The other statements don’t fit because they imply that consequences don’t influence behavior, or that behavior is random, or that aversives are never used, which misrepresents how consequences guide learning in this framework.