B. F. Skinner is considered to be one of the most influential figures in the field of psychology of the 20th century. He was the precursor of the principle of reinforcement which is one of the key elements of the concept of operant conditioning.
Skinner considered and tested that all human actions "including the act of thinking" were directly influenced or were consequences of previous actions. Hence, human behavior is learned.
In this particular case, the text suggest that human beings have developed certain response tendencies and that we demonstrate certain consistent behavior patterns. In other words, that we learn to behave in particular ways which as we can see is one of the main ideas of B. F. Skinner.
