The Core Drive in a Skinner Box
There’s a substantial amount of research on how the unknown and the unpredictable intrigues and engages our minds. One of the most notable motivational design case studies that explored this phenomenon is the Skinner Box181.
The Skinner Box was an experiment conducted by the scientist B. F. Skinner, who placed rodents and pigeons in a box with an installed lever. In the first phase, whenever the animal pressed the lever (the Desired Action), a portion of food was released. As long as the animal continuously pressed the lever, food would continue to be dispensed.
The end result is that when the animal was no longer hungry, it would stop pressing the lever. This makes a lot of sense - the animal is no longer hungry and does not need food anymore.
The second phase, however, introduced unpredictability into the test mechanics. When the animal pressed the lever, there was no guarantee that food would be dispensed as before. Sometimes...