One experiment that changed the world

There’s a moment in history that changed our psychology forever, and you’ve probably never heard of it.

It starts with a pigeon…

In the 1940’s, a Harvard psychologist named B.F. Skinner ran a simple experiment that would shape the modern world.

He put a pigeon in a box.

Inside that box was a lever and when pecked, it released some pellet food.

Sometimes the food came. Other times it was random.

That randomness is where everything changed.

Skinner found that when the rewards were unpredictable, the pigeons became obsessed.

They pecked compulsively. Repeatedly. Endlessly.

And that little pigeon in a box experiment began the rise of what we now call “variable reinforcement”.

One of the most powerful psychological levers ever discovered.

Decades later, Silicon Valley would take this principle and build billion-dollar empires with it, creating the attention economy fuelled by features like:

• Likes

• Notifications

• Scroll-to-refresh

• Infinte scrolling

• And other algorithmic rewards that arrive just inconsistently enough to keep you coming back for more, more, more!

The Skinner Box became the iPhone. We became the pigeons.

But the tech giants weren’t alone.

Governments use something called “Behaviour nudging” inspired by Skinner to subtly shift public behaviour without directly mandating things (think COVID-19 pandemic).

Advertisers use intermittent reinforcement like limited-time offers, loyalty programs and flash sales to mimic the unpredictable rewards and get you addicted to consuming more and more.

We live in a society optimized for compulsive engagement over conscious intention.

And inside a culture designed to extract our attention, not protect it.

The part that I find most concerning isn’t the box that we’re trapped in now because of Skinner’s work.

But the fact that we stopped noticing it’s a box at all.

We aren’t just the pigeon anymore, we’re also the person holding the box and pulling the lever.

The good news is that also means that we’ve inherited the controls.

The question is:

Will you use them to reclaim your mind, attention, focus and energy?

The most radical act today isn’t logging off, or deleting the apps.

It’s noticing the box you’re in and stepping out of it.

Becoming aware of how these false reinforcement acts are behind a lot of our day-to-day activities and designing a lifestyle and environment that becomes less and less controlled by them.

The real revolution isn’t fighting back. It’s awareness that you’re in way more control than you think.

The moment you acknowledge the box, you’re halfway there.

Much Love,

Cory Firth
Creator of One Minute Weekend