Skinner discussed the topic of motivation in every chapter of the book "Verbal Behavior" (1957), usually with his preferred terminology of ''deprivation, satiation, and aversive stimulation.'' In the current paper, direct quotations are used to systematically take the reader through 30 separate points made by Skinner…

Among many of Jack Michael's contributions to the field of behavior analysis is his behavioral account of motivation. This paper focuses on the concept of "motivating operation" (MO) by outlining its development from Skinner's (1938) notion of "drive." Conceptually, Michael's term helped us change our focus on…

Consumer behavior analysis can be applied over a wide range of economic topics in which the main focus is the contingencies that influence the behavior of the economic agent. This paper provides an overview on the work that has been done on the impact from motivating operations at the point of online purchase situation. Motivating operations, a…

The article intends to present the debate on behaviour modification in the regulation studies literature, at a time of renewed interest among regulators for new ideas and strategies. As the financial crisis has led to the most public critique yet of the rational choice view of individuals that has informed regulation in the last few decades, other…

The concept of the motivating operation (MO) has been subject to 3 criticisms: (a) the terms and concepts employed do not always overlap with traditional behavior-analytic verbal practices; (b) the dual nature of the MO is unclear; and (c) there is a lack of adequate contact with empirical data. We offer a more parsimonious approach to motivation,…

The purpose of this study was to extend into a third decade previous reviews conducted by Balcazar, Shupert, Daniels, Mawhinney, and Hopkins (1989) and Nolan, Jarema, and Austin (1999) of the "Journal of Organizational Behavior Management" ("JOBM"). Every article published in "JOBM" between 1998 and 2009 was objectively reviewed and analyzed for…

I present a selective history of the evolution of the study of altruism and helping behavior, using a series of questions and answers. Some of the topics covered include the motives for helping, the origins of helping and altruism in evolution and child development, the relationship of organizations to helping, and the psychological and health…

People are often presumed to be vulnerable to a desirability bias, namely, a tendency to be overoptimistic about a future outcome as a result of their preferences or desires for that outcome. In this article, this form of wishful thinking is distinguished from the more general concepts of motivated reasoning and overoptimism, and the evidence for…

Acquisition of verbal behavior is a major goal of interventions for children with developmental disabilities. We evaluated the effectiveness of manipulation of an establishing operation for functional discriminated mands. Four individuals with developmental disabilities participated in a training procedure designed to teach two separate mands for…

A theory of the physiology of motivation is presented. The basic assumption is that the amount of motivated behavior is a direct function of the amount of activity in certain excitatory centers of the hypothalamus. Activities of these centers are determined by factors in four general classes. (SLD)

The ordinary-language concept of values has a complex history in psychology and in science generally. The traditional fact-value distinction commonly found in traditional scientific perspectives has been challenged by the varieties of philosophical pragmatism, which have similarities to Skinner's radical behaviorism. Skinner's challenge to the…

Selecting a statistical framework for a behavioral study has profoundly different results than does a linguistically framed research strategy. The linguistic strategy overcomes many limitations inherent in statistical strategies and offers more meaningful results. Inferential statistical studies often discuss how the findings "explain" the results…

A meta-analysis including 96 experimental studies considers the effects of reinforcement/reward on intrinsic motivation. Results indicate that reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation, although interaction effects must be examined. An analysis with five studies also indicates that reinforcement does not harm intrinsic motivation. (SLD)

The primary core deficit in autism spectrum disorders is social development. While frequently acknowledged as a critical aspect of intervention for improved functioning, research on the specifics of social development and effective models of intervention is not commensurate with the acknowledged importance. We present a model of social competence…