Reading a news article about flu season and then buying masks is an example of which type of motivating operation?

• A. Establishing Operation
• B. Conditioned Motivating Operation
• C. Abolishing Operation
• D. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior

Answer: (B)

Motivating operations change how much we value a consequence right now, and they influence whether we perform the behavior that leads to that consequence. In this scenario, reading a news article about flu season has become a learned cue that signals illness risk and the protective value of wearing a mask. Because of prior experience linking flu risk with the effectiveness of masks, the article itself increases the reinforcing value of obtaining and wearing a mask. That learned signal is what makes it a conditioned motivating operation: a stimulus whose impact on value is established through association with the relevant consequence (staying healthy by masking). It’s not an establishing operation (which would create more value of a reinforcer due to bodily state like hunger) and it’s not abolishing or reducing the value of the reinforcer, nor is it a reinforcement procedure like DRO.