What theory explains changes in a dog's own behavior due to rewards and punishments altering the likelihood of repeating the behavior?

• A. Operant Conditioning
• B. Classical Conditioning
• C. Spontaneous Recovery
• D. Generalization

Answer: (A)

Behavior is shaped by its consequences: rewards make a behavior more likely to be repeated, while punishments or removing rewards make it less likely. This is operant conditioning, the framework that explains how voluntary actions are influenced by the outcomes that follow them. In dog training, you reinforce desirable actions with treats, praise, or a click, and use consequences to decrease undesired actions, so the dog learns to repeat the rewarded behavior. This differs from classical conditioning, where a neutral cue becomes linked to a reflexive response rather than shaping voluntary behavior. Spontaneous recovery is about a previously extinguished response reappearing after a rest, and generalization is about applying learning to similar cues, not the mechanism of behavior change through rewards and punishments. So the best explanation for changes in a dog's own behavior due to rewards and punishments altering the likelihood of repeating the behavior is operant conditioning.