According to Thorndike's Law of Effect, learning is most likely to occur when…

Concept — Thorndike's Law of Effect makes the after-effect of a response the governing variable in learning: the bond between a stimulus and a response is strengthened when the response is followed by a satisfying state of affairs and weakened when it is followed by an annoying one. Thorndike defined both states behaviourally — a satisfying state is one the organism does nothing to avoid and often acts to attain and preserve, while an annoying state is one it does nothing to preserve and often acts to end.

Application — The stem asks under which condition learning is most likely. The Law of Effect places that condition in whatever follows the action, and the strengthening direction is the satisfying one. Hence the action that results in happiness or satisfaction is the one whose stimulus–response bond is reinforced and therefore becomes more likely to be repeated.

Cross-check, taking the other conditions by value:

• Being forced repeatedly is frequency of practice, which Thorndike handles under the Law of Exercise (use and disuse); his 1932 revision reported that repetition by itself, with no satisfying after-effect, does little to strengthen a bond.

• Being followed by punishment supplies an annoying after-state; in the revised statement annoyers weaken the bond, and Thorndike found that weakening far less dependable than the strengthening produced by satisfiers.

• Occurring without feedback gives the learner no knowledge of the result, so this condition does not establish the satisfying after-state that the Law of Effect needs in order to strengthen the bond.

Result: learning is most likely when the action results in happiness or satisfaction. Thorndike's three primary laws are Readiness, Exercise and Effect, and the Law of Effect is the one that specifies the role of consequences.