What term describes learning that a behavior has consequences, such as rewards?

The term for learning that a behavior has consequences, such as rewards, is operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning describes how consequences change the future frequency of behavior. A behavior followed by reinforcement becomes more likely; a behavior followed by punishment becomes less likely. In a classic example, a rat presses a lever and receives food, increasing the chance that it will press the lever again.

The framework is strongly associated with B. F. Skinner, who developed experimental procedures using controlled chambers often called Skinner boxes. His work built on Edward Thorndike’s law of effect, proposed in 1898, which stated that actions followed by satisfying outcomes tend to be repeated.

A common mix-up concerns “positive” and “negative.” In operant terminology, positive means adding a stimulus and negative means removing one; neither word automatically means good or bad. Positive reinforcement adds a reward, while negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant. Both increase behavior. Classical conditioning instead centers on associations between stimuli and often automatic responses.