Question

Which of the following do you need to know in order to determine what type of consequence an organism received during operant conditioning?

A) Whether a stimulus or event was added or removed
B) If the organism finds the stimulus or event desirable or aversive
C) When the organism received the consequence
D) The outcome on the future likelihood of the behavior

Answer 1

To identify the type of consequence in operant conditioning, it's important to know if the stimulus or event was added or removed (A), and if the consequence is viewed as desirable or aversive by the organism (B). These factors are key in distinguishing between reinforcement and punishment.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the type of consequence an organism received during operant conditioning, you need to know:

• Whether a stimulus or event was added or removed (A) - This determines if the consequence is a form of reinforcement (adding something) or punishment (removing something).
• If the organism finds the stimulus or event desirable or aversive (B) - This indicates whether the consequence is likely to be reinforcing or punishing from the organism's perspective.
• The timing of when the organism received the consequence (C) - Although not directly related to the type of consequence, timing can affect the strength of the association between behavior and consequence.
• The outcome on the future likelihood of the behavior (D) - This tells us whether the behavior is more or less likely to occur, indicating a reinforcement or punishment.

Overall, both A and B are crucial in ascertaining the nature of the consequence in operant conditioning, as they relate directly to identifying whether a behavior has been reinforced or punished, and if it has been positively or negatively reinforced or punished.