No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn't die out, it's wiped out.

Skinner contrasts an infant’s spontaneous exploratory behavior with the adult concern about “motivation,” implying that curiosity and engagement are the default state of an organism. In his behaviorist frame, what looks like a lack of motivation later in life is often the product of environmental contingencies—punishment, excessive restraint, or reinforcement systems that make exploration costly or unrewarding. The line “it’s wiped out” emphasizes that intrinsic-seeming drives can be extinguished by repeated negative consequences, not merely diminished with age. The quote is frequently invoked in educational and workplace contexts to argue for environments that reinforce inquiry and experimentation rather than suppress them through fear of error or rigid control.