What is the best description of operant conditioning?

• A. Rewarding occasional misbehavior
• B. Ignoring mistakes
• C. Punishing all disobedience
• D. Rewarding desired behavior

Answer: (D)

Operant conditioning is learning through consequences: actions followed by rewards tend to be repeated, while actions followed by aversive outcomes tend to be suppressed. The best description is rewarding desired behavior, because using positive reinforcement directly strengthens the exact behavior you want to see again. When the bird performs the target action, you provide something valuable—like a treat, praise, or preferred handling—immediately after the behavior to make it more likely to happen again. This approach shapes behavior toward your training goals in a clear, predictable way. The other options either reinforce the wrong actions or describe not actively guiding behavior through reinforcement, which can lead to inconsistent results or unintended consequences.