In operant conditioning, to shape someone's behaviour means you
A) approximate the behaviour you want and stop there.
B) start off by rewarding behaviour which is close to what you want, then behaviour that is closer to what you want, and finally only that behaviour which you actually want.
C) punish non-desired behaviour until all that remains is the desired behaviour.
D) perform a desired behaviour yourself, and then reinforce the person when they mimic your behaviour.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior. You start by rewarding behavior that is close to what you want, and gradually move towards the behavior you actually want to shape. Option A is incorrect because shaping involves gradual changes, so you don't stop after approximating the behavior once. Option C is incorrect because punishment is not used in shaping. Option D is incorrect because it involves modeling behavior rather than shaping it through reinforcement.

In Operant Conditioning, to Shape Someone's Behaviour Means You