Final answer:
B. F. Skinner, a prominent psychologist in the field of behaviorism, asserted that free will is an illusion and behavior is influenced by the consequences of reinforcement and punishment.
Step-by-step explanation:
B. F. Skinner, an influential figure in psychology, argued that free will is an illusion, a tenet of behaviorism. Skinner's work on operant conditioning emphasized the role of consequences in shaping behavior. Through the use of his designed operant conditioning chamber, or Skinner box, he systematically explored how reinforcement and punishment affect behavioral patterns. From these studies, he proposed that behaviors associated with positive outcomes are reinforced and, therefore, more likely to occur again, while behaviors associated with negative outcomes are less likely to be repeated. His research built on Thorndike's law of effect, demonstrating that our actions tend to be driven by the consequences they produce rather than by some intrinsic sense of free will.