Discussion

Respondent and Operant Behaviors

In the science of behavior analysis there are two types of conditioning. Respondent behaviors can be thought of as reflexes that are elicited by stimuli. While operant behaviors can be thought of as behaviors that are maintained by environmental consequences and evoked by environmental stimuli.

• Describe a behavior you engaged in today that was an operant behavior. Also, describe a behavior that you have emitted that would be considered a respondent behavior.
• Explain how the operant behavior example differs from the respondent behavior example.
• Based on your understanding so far, how could we use operant conditioning in ABA therapy?