Introductory Concepts
Elementary Relationships
Extensions of Verbal Behavior
Multiple Controlling Relationships
Building on the Elementary Relationships
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6.11 Establishing Operation vs. Discriminative Stimulus Part 3

Now, the sign remains on, but you stop pushing the button because you have had enough. Then you eat a bag of salty peanuts, and with the sign still on, start pushing the button again. Since the sign remained on, you could have pushed the button and received water at any time. Why did you do it only after you ate the peanuts?

A pile of peanuts.
An image of a water vending machine showing operation.

Establishing Operation

An environmental change or event with the following features:

Precedes the response to which it is functionally related

Increases the effectiveness of a particular stimulus change as reinforcement

The type of environmental event

The cause of the environmental event

The type of stimulus that gains reinforcing effectiveness

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