Which term describes a behavior that is controlled by its consequences, as evidenced by reinforcement and punishment shaping its occurrence?

• A. Ontogeny
• B. Neutral stimulus
• C. Operant behavior
• D. Nonparametric study

Answer: (C)

Operant behavior is a behavior controlled by its consequences. In operant conditioning, the organism emits the behavior and the events that follow (reinforcement or punishment) change how likely that behavior is to occur in the future. Reinforcement makes the behavior more likely to happen again, while punishment makes it less likely. Through this process, behaviors are shaped and maintained by the consequences they produce, and techniques like shaping use successive reinforcements to guide a behavior toward a desired form. This concept distinguishes actions that are emitted and tied to outcomes from reflexive responses that are simply elicited by preceding cues.

Ontogeny refers to how an organism develops over its lifetime, not to how behavior is governed by consequences. A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that initially has no effect until it becomes associated with something meaningful. A nonparametric study describes a type of statistical or research design, not a mechanism by which behavior is shaped by consequences.