#44 - Leveling Up the Respondent-Operant Distinction w/ Dr. Michael Domjan

Show Notes

• About the episode

  In this episode, Zach and Caleb discuss the distinction between operant and respondent behavior with Dr. Michael Domjan.
  

  Learning Objectives

  1. Describe B.F. Skinner’s 1930s-1950s justification for distinguishing "emitted" from "elicited" behavior, analyzing how contemporary behavioral data and Skinner's own early notation challenge the concept of pure behavioral spontaneity.

  2. Analyze the mechanics of an omission control procedure to evaluate how skeletal, environment-directed behaviors (e.g., magazine approach, auto-shaped key pecking) can be empirically verified as Pavlovian conditioned responses rather than adventitiously reinforced operants.

  3. Differentiate between the response modes within a biological behavior system—specifically distinguishing between general search, focal search, and consummatory behavior—and analyze how environmental signaling cues dictate shifts between these modes.

  4. Describe an applied intervention strategy that intentionally uses Pavlovian reward-expectancy signaling mechanisms to facilitate and motivate subsequent operant performance without relying on formal shaping procedures.

  5. Assess the therapeutic risks and limitations that modern practitioners face when treating operant and Pavlovian conditioning as completely isolated silos within textbooks and behavioral assessments.

• Things to check out from the episode:

  Dr. Domjan's Youtube channel:
  Introduction to Learning and Behavior: Key Concepts
  
  Dr. Domjan's textbooks discussed during the episode:
  The Essentials of Conditioning and Learning, Fifth Edition
  
  Amazon.com: The Principles of Learning and Behavior: 9781285088563: Domjan, Michael P.: Books

  
  References:
  
  Brown, P. L., & Jenkins, H. M. (1968). AUTO‐SHAPING OF THE PIGEON'S KEY‐PECK 1. Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 11(1), 1-8.
  
  Domjan, M. (2016). Elicited versus emitted behavior: Time to abandon the distinction. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 105(2), 231-245.
  
  Skinner, B. F. (1965). Science and human behavior (No. 92904). Simon and Schuster.
  
  Skinner, B. F. (2019). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. BF Skinner Foundation.