Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Motivating Operations and Discriminative Stimuli: Distinguishable but Interactive Variables

  • Discussion and Review Paper
  • Published:
Behavior Analysis in Practice Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The motivating operations concept has been of considerable interest and practical value to behavior analysts, including practitioners. Nonetheless, the concept has generated substantial controversy and has significant limitations. To address some of these limitations, we suggest that it would be wise to redefine motivating operations, to deemphasize the importance that has historically been placed on subtypes of conditioned motivating operations, to emphasize how motivating operations and discriminative stimuli interact, and to further examine the kinds of environmental changes that alter the reinforcing value of particular kinds of stimuli. These suggestions are detailed elsewhere and summarized in this article.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albert, K. M., Carbone, V. J., Murray, D. D., Hagerty, M., & Sweeney-Kerwin, E. J. (2012). Increasing the mand repertoire of children with autism through the use of an interrupted chain procedure. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 5(2), 65–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2012). BCBA BCaBA Task List. Retrieved June 5, 2019, from https://www.bacb.com/bcba-bcaba-task-list/

  • Belfiore, P. J., Kitchen, T., & Lee, D. L. (2016). Functional analysis of maladaptive behaviors: Rule as a transitive conditioned motivating operating. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 49–50, 100–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbone, V. J. (2013). The establishing operation and teaching verbal behavior. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 29, 45–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbone, V. J. (2019). The motivational and discriminative functions of motivating operations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 15–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbone, V. J., Morgenstern, B., Zecchin-Tirri, G., & Kolberg, L. (2010). The role of the reflexive-conditioned motivating operation (CMO-R) during discrete trial instruction of children with autism. Focus on Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 25, 110–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catania, C. A. (1993). Coming to terms with establishing operations. The Behavior Analyst, 16, 219–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catania, C. A., & St. Peter, C. (2019). Establishing terms: A comment on Edward, Lotfizadeh, and Poling’s Motivating Operations and Stimulus Control. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 15–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (Eds.). (2019). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, T. L., Lotfizadeh, A. D., & Poling, A. (2019a). Motivating operations and stimulus control. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, T. L., Lotfizadeh, A. D., & Poling, A. (2019b). Rethinking motivating operations: A reply to commentaries on Edwards, Lotfizadeh, and Poling (2019). Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 47–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, S. C., & Wilson, K. G. (1993). Some applied implications of a contemporary behavior-analytic account of verbal events. The Behavior Analyst, 16, 283–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killeen, P. (2019). Inventing the wheel. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 18–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kissi, A., Hughes, S., Mertens, G., Barnes-Holmes, D., De Houwer, J., & Crombez, G. (2017). A systematic review of pliance, tracking, and augmenting. Behavior Modification, 41, 683–707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langthorne, P., & McGill, P. A. (2009). Tutorial on the concept of the motivation operation and its importance to application. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2, 22–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laraway, S., & Snycerski, S. (2019). MOs can evoke behavior and EMOs remain useful: Commentary on Edwards, Lotfizadeh, and Poling (2019). Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 21–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laraway, S., Snycerski, S., Michael, J., & Poling, A. (2003). Motivating operations and terms to describe them: Some further refinements. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36, 407–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laraway, S., Snycerski, S., Olson, R., Becker, B., & Poling, A. (2014). The motivating operations concept: Current status and a critical response. The Psychological Record, 64, 601–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lechago, S. (2019). A comment on Edwards, Lotfizadeh, and Poling’s (2019) publication on motivating operations and stimulus control. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 27–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotfizadeh, A., Edwards, T., & Poling, A. (2014). Motivating operations in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management: Review and discussion of relevant articles. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 34, 69–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotfizadeh, A. D., Edwards, T., Redner, R., & Poling, A. (2012). Motivating operations affect stimulus control: A largely overlooked phenomenon in discrimination learning. The Behavior Analyst, 35, 89–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGill, P. (1999). Establishing operations: Implications for the assessment, treatment, and prevention of problem behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 32, 393–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, J. (1982). Distinguishing between discriminative and motivational functions of stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 149–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, J. (1988). Establishing operations and the mand. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 6, 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03392824.

  • Michael, J. (1993). Establishing operations. The Behavior Analyst, 16, 191–206. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392623.

  • Michael, J. (2000). Implications and refinements of the establishing operation concept. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33, 401–410. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2000.33-401.

  • Michael, J. (2007). Motivating operations. In J. O. Cooper, T. E. Heron, & W. L. Heward (Eds.), Applied behavior analysis (2nd ed., pp. 374–391). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michael, J., & Miguel, C. (2019). Motivating operations. In J. O. Cooper, T. E. Heron, & W. L. Heward (Eds.), Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed., pp. 372–394). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miguel, C. (2019). In defense of Jack Michael’s motivation: Commentary on Edwards, Lotfizadeh, and Poling (2019). Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 32–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.533.

  • Petursdottir, A. (2019). Downstream effects of redefining MOs: Commentary on Edwards et al. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 37–40. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.530.

  • Pilgrim, C. (2019). Of MOs and SDs, and what exactly is a repertoire, anyway? Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 41–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.534.

  • Rehfeldt, R. A. (2019). On the role of context in the analysis of MOs: The search for Occam’s razor. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 112, 44–46. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.535.

  • Schlichenmeyer, K. J., Roscoe, E. M., Rooker, G. W., Wheeler, E. E., & Dube, W. V. (2013). Idiosyncratic variables that affect functional analysis outcomes: A review (2001–2010). Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 46, 339–348. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.12.

  • Schlinger, H., & Blakely, E. (1987). Function-altering effects of contingency-specifying stimuli. The Behavior Analyst, 10(1), 41–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03392405.

  • Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, R., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2010). Consequence valuing as operation and process: A parsimonious analysis of motivation. The Psychological Record, 60, 337–354. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1266&context=tpr.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

    Alan Poling

  2. Easterseals Southern California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Amin D. Lotfizadeh

  3. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Timothy L. Edwards

Authors
  1. Alan Poling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amin D. Lotfizadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Timothy L. Edwards
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alan Poling.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Approval

The manuscript is conceptual and does not report data for human participants or animal subjects.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Poling, A., Lotfizadeh, A.D. & Edwards, T.L. Motivating Operations and Discriminative Stimuli: Distinguishable but Interactive Variables. Behav Analysis Practice 13, 502–508 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00400-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00400-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation