If you are using "shaping" to increase the likelihood that a child will put away all his toys, what would you need to do each time the child does a better job of putting away his toys than he did previously?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior. In this case, the desired behavior is putting away all of the toys. So, each time the child does a better job than before, we would reinforce the behavior with a reinforcer, such as praise or a small reward. This will increase the likelihood that the child will continue to improve and eventually put away all of the toys. Giving the child a closer approximation to the reinforcement (A) or a UCS (D) is not relevant in this context, and modeling the correct behavior (B) may be helpful but is not a necessary part of shaping.

If You Are Using "Shaping" to Increase the Likelihood That