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Importance of Antecedents in Operative and Respondent Behavior

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Question 1
Antecedents
Why are antecedents important in understanding operant behaviors and controlling respondent behaviors?

Question 2
Respondent and Operant Behaviors
How do respondent and operant behavior occur together in the case of a student's fear of public speaking?

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This solution discusses the importance of antecedents in operant conditioning.

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(1) Why are antecedents important in understanding operant behaviors and controlling respondent behaviors?

The conceptual understanding of operant conditioning is based on learned behavioral adaptation governed by the principles of association. Operant conditioning is defined as a process of changing behaviors by rewarding (positive reinforcement) or punishing (negative reinforcement) subjects in which an application is performed until the subject associates the action with either pleasure or distress. For example, negative and positive reinforcement is used in operant conditioning to change or alter someone' motivation to engage in negative behaviors (Ruz, 1995). Skinner (1935 as cited in Ruz, 1995) postulated that all forms of human behavior could be explained by behavior in response to one's environment (as opposed to mental mechanisms). Based on the principles of operant conditioning, Skinner theorized that consequences which follow a behavior directly influence the frequency with which the behavior is repeated. From this theory, he coined views on reinforcement schedules [rules for which behaviors will occur], and punishment and rewarding stimuli.
Antecedent behavior change strategies occur under single terms such as: (a) antecedent procedures, (b) antecedent control, (c) antecedent manipulations, and (d) antecedent interventions. Antecedent based intervention (ABI) are practices in which a modification of the environment takes place by changing conditions to get a learner to change interfering behavior (www.murrieta.k12.ca.us). Antecedents are important in understanding operant behaviors as the need exists to identify conditions that reinforce interfering, or negative behavior. For example, negative contingency reinforcement (NCR) is an antecedent intervention that consists of ...

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