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Unpredictable behavior can be conditioned through reinforcement contingencies. These contingencies may shape behavior by balancing response strengths, suggesting unpredictability is a reinforceable dimension.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Operant conditioning
  • Decision-making in competitive contexts

Background:

  • Predictability is often advantageous, but unpredictability offers benefits in competitive scenarios like sports, games, and warfare.
  • The capacity for conditioning unpredictable behavior remains an open question in behavioral science.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore whether unpredictable behavior can be conditioned.
  • To investigate if predictability is a reinforceable dimension of behavior when reinforcement is contingent on predictable responding.
  • To examine concepts and measures of predictability and methods for increasing unpredictable responding.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on predictability and conditioning unpredictable responding.
  • Analysis of hypotheses regarding operant conditioning and response frequency.
  • Examination of findings supporting or limiting the balance hypothesis of unpredictable responding.

Main Results:

  • Contingencies based on response frequency may shape the generalized operant 'to vary'.
  • An alternative hypothesis suggests these contingencies create unpredictable responding by balancing alternative response strengths over time.
  • Evidence supports the balance hypothesis, though limitations exist.

Conclusions:

  • Unpredictable responding can be conditioned.
  • The 'to vary' operant and response-strength balancing hypotheses may complement each other in explaining unpredictable behavior.
  • Unpredictability can be considered a reinforceable dimension of behavior under specific contingency conditions.