The term motivating operation is roughly synonymous with which concept?

• A. Abolishing Operation
• B. Setting Event
• C. Establishing Operation
• D. Motivating Operation

Answer: (C)

Motivating operations describe events that change how valuable a consequence is in the moment, which in turn changes the likelihood of behaviors that have produced that consequence in the past. There are two kinds: establishing operations, which make a consequence more valuable and increase the behavior that has produced it, and abolishing operations, which make a consequence less valuable and decrease that behavior. In common practice, motivating operation is used interchangeably with establishing operation, especially when focusing on increasing the value of a reinforcer to evoke more of the related behavior. For example, deprivation makes food more reinforcing, raising the chance you’ll seek it; after eating, food becomes less reinforcing, reducing that behavior. A setting event is a broader contextual factor that can influence behavior but doesn’t specify the immediate change in the value of a consequence like an establishing operation does. So the term most closely aligned with motivating operation is establishing operation.