Which of the following best describes unconditioned motivating operations?

• A. Value-Altering Effects That Are Learned
• B. Value-Altering Effects That Are Unlearned
• C. Value-Altering Effects That Are Not Affects Behavior
• D. No Value-Altering Effects

Answer: (B)

Unconditioned motivating operations are biology-based, unlearned factors that change how reinforcing a consequence is and thus influence current behavior. Because they arise from the organism’s natural state, their value-altering effects don’t depend on learning. For example, hunger makes food more reinforcing, so seeking food is more likely; pain or extreme temperature makes withdrawal or escape more reinforcing. These effects increase or decrease the value of a reinforcer and, in turn, evoke or suppress behaviors that have historically produced that reinforcer. That combination—unlearned value change plus a pattern of behavior change—is what defines unconditioned motivating operations. Choices describing value changes learned through experience or implying no value change or no behavioral impact don’t fit this concept.