Operant Behavior - describing the three-term contingency

Operant Behavior

Begin by describing the three-term contingency, and explain why it is described as the basic unit of analysis for operant behavior. In reviewing the contingencies of reinforcement and punishment, discuss how each set of contingencies has an effect on an individual's behavior.

Choose a behavior from your own experience that has been reinforced, and identify whether that behavior was positively or negatively reinforced, outlining the specific three term contingency of that operant behavior. Next, choose a behavior from your own experience that has been punished and identify whether that behavior was positively or negatively punished; outline the specific three term contingency of that operant behavior. Finally, in either of those behaviors, discuss how matching law or schedules of reinforcement may contribute to the maintenance of the behavior under certain circumstances.

Read the following chapters in your text:

· Read Chapters 11, 12, and 13 of  Cooper, Heron, & Heward’s Applied Behavior Analysis

· Chapters 3 & 4 in Fisher, Piazza, & Roane’s  Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis

Read the following articles which offer some “classic” perspectives on applied behavior analysis, along with articles that explore more modern applications:

Positive and negative reinforcement: Should the distinction be preserved?  Baron and Galizio (2005)

Prediction and control of operant behavior: What you see is not all there is.  Bouton and Balleine (2019)

Toward a better basic understanding of operant-respondent interactions: Translational research on phobias . Brewer, et al. (2018)

Application of the matching law to Mixed Martial Arts.  Seniuk, Vu, & Nosik (2019)