An abolishing operation has a behavior-altering effect which decreases the reinforcement efficacy of a stimulus.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not necessarily
• D. Cannot be determined

Answer: (B)

Motivating operations have two kinds of effects: a value-altering effect, which changes how reinforcing a stimulus is, and a behavior-altering effect, which changes how often a person will engage in behavior that has produced that reinforcer in the past. An abolishing operation decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus—that’s the value-altering effect. It can also reduce the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by that stimulus, but that second effect is a separate behavior-altering impact.

The statement ties the decrease in reinforcement efficacy to the behavior-altering effect. That misattributes the direction of the change. The reduction in reinforcement efficacy is due to the value-altering effect, not the behavior-altering effect. Therefore this is false.