1. Chapter 16: Motivating Operations
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

2. Motivating Operations
Establishing Operations (EO)
Keller & Schoenfeld (1950)
Drive concept: relation between environmental variables
Reintroduced (Michael 1982): any environmental variable that:
Alters the effectiveness of some object or event as a reinforcer
Alters the current frequency of all behavior that has been reinforced by that stimulus, object, or event
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

3. Motivating Operations
EO commonly used applied behavior analysis
Motivating Operation (MO) suggested to replace term EO along with the terms:
Value altering
Behavior altering
Describe the defining effects in the original definition of EO
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

4. Value-altering Effects
An increase in the reinforcing effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event
MO = EO
A decrease in reinforcing effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event
MO = abolishing operation (AO)
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

5. Behavior-altering Effects
Evocative effect
Increase in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object, or event
Abative effect
Decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object, or event
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

6. Behavior-altering Effects
Direct and indirect effects
Frequency of behavior result of:
Direct evocative or abative effect of the MO on response frequency
Indirect effect on the evocative or abative strength of relevant SD’s
Value-altering effects may also occur for conditioned reinforcers conditioned MO’s
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

7. Behavior-altering effects
Dimensions of behavior-altering effects
Not limited to frequency
Other examples:
Response magnitude
Response latency
Relative frequency
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

8. Motivating Operations
Behavior-altering effects should not be interpreted as a result of the organism encountering more or less effective forms of reinforcement
Strong relating exists between MO level & responding in extinction
MO should evoke the behavior even if it is not at first successful
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

9. Motivating Operations
Behavior-altering effects
Operate on the current frequency of the behavior
Antecedent variables (i.e. MO’s, SD’s )
Can evoke or abate responses, but not alter them
Function-altering effects
Operate on the future frequency of the behavior
Consequence variables (i.e. reinforcers, punishers, extinction procedure, recovery from punishment procedure)
Change repertoire of functional relations
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

10. Motivating Operations
Antecedent variables
MO’s and SD’s
Alter the current frequency of the behavior
Operant variables
Control response frequency due to their relation to reinforcing or punishing consequences
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

11. Antecedent Variables SD MO
Related to the differential availability of a currently effective form of reinforcement for a particular type of behavior MO
Related to the differential reinforcing effectiveness of a particular type of environmental event
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

12. Motivating Operations
Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Value-altering motivating effects that are unlearned
Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Value-altering motivating effects that are a function of a learning history
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

13. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
UMO’s for humans:
Deprivation and satiation UMO’s
UMO’s relevant to sexual reinforcement
Temperature changes
Painful stimulation
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

14. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Deprivation and satiation UMO’s
Deprivation of food, water, oxygen, activity, & sleep = reinforcer-establishing & evocative effects
Ingestion of food and water, oxygen intake, engaging in activity, & sleeping = reinforcer-abolishing & abative effects
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

15. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
UMO’s relevant to sexual reinforcement
Learning plays a strong role in the determination of sexual behavior (different from nonhuman mammals), difficult to determine what is unlearned
For humans organisms:
Role of hormones & chemical attractants in unclear
Tactile stimulation of erogenous body areas
Passage of time since last sexual activity – establishing & evocative effects
Sexual orgasm – abolishing & abative effects
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

16. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s) – Temperature Changes
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

17. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Painful Stimulation
Increase establishes pain reduction as reinforcer & evokes escape behavior
Decrease abolishes effectiveness of pain reduction as a reinforcer & abates behavior that has been reinforced by pain reduction
Evokes aggressive behavior toward another organism when in the presence of that organism
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

18. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Important considerations:
Individuals do not have “understand” anything for an MO to have value-altering & behavior-altering effects
Relevant MO must be in effect in future circumstances if behavior is to occur
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

19. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Weakening effects of an EO may be necessary
Reinforcer-establishing & evocative effects of UMO’s can be temporarily weakened
Reinfocer-abolishing operations
Abative operations
Cannot permanently weaken value-altering effects of UMO’s
Behavior-altering effects are based on history of reinforcement
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

20. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
UMO’s for Punishment
Value-altering effect does not depend on a learning history
Most punishers affecting humans are conditioned – involves a learning history
UMO-CMO relation
Same MO’s for reinforcers as conditioned punishers
Reinforcer must be effective if deprivation or removal will function as a punisher
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

21. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Behavior-altering effects are more complex in observing a punishment effect than a reinforcement effect
Must consider the status of the variable responsible for the occurrence of the punished behavior
Complex behavioral relations
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

22. Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMO’s)
Environmental events will have both
Behavior-altering effects on current frequency of the behavior
Function-altering effects (as consequences) on future frequency of the behavior that preceded the onset of the event
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

23. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Motivating variables that alter the reinforcing effectiveness of other stimuli, objects, or events, only as a result of the organism’s learning history
Alter the momentary frequency of all behavior that has been reinforced by those other events (like UMO’s)
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

24. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Three types of CMO’s
Surrogate (CMO-S)
Reflexive (CMO-R)
Transitive (CMO-T)
All are motivationally neutral stimuli prior to their relation with another MO or to a form of reinforcement or punishment
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

25. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Surrogate CMO (CMO-S)
Accomplishes what the MO it was paired with accomplishes
Has the same value-altering and behavior altering effects as the MO it was paired with
CMO-S
Can be altered in its effects by through pairing and unpairing
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

26. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Reflexive CMO (CMO-R)
Alters a relation to itself
Acquires MO effectiveness by preceding some form of worsening or improvement
CMO-R
Exemplified by warning stimulus in a typical escape-avoidance procedure
Establishes its own offset as reinforcement and evokes all behavior that has accomplished that offset
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

27. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Transitive CMO (CMO-T)
Makes something else effective as reinforcement because of its relation or association to the unconditioned reinforcer
Environmental variable that establishes or abolishes the reinforcing effectiveness of another stimulus and evokes or abated the behavior that has been reinforced by the other stimulus
CMO-T
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

28. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Transitive CMO (CMO-T)
All variables that function as UMO’s also function as CMO-T for the stimuli that are conditioned reinforcers because of their relation to the relevant unconditioned reinforcer
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

29. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Transitive CMO (CMO-T)
Often confused with SD
Distinction between SD & CMO-T lies in the relation between reinforcer availability & presence or absence of the stimulus
SD: if reinforcer is more available in the presence than in the absence of the stimulus
CMO-T: if reinforcer is just as available in the absence as in the presence of the stimulus
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition

30. Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMO’s)
Transitive CMO (CMO-T)
Practical implications
Utilization in language training
Refinement of differences between SD & CMO-T
Cooper, Heron, and Heward
Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition