Sara wants to teach her cat Fluffy to use his paw to turn on the television.Sara differentially reinforces Fluffy's behavior of being within one foot of the television,being within one foot and facing the television,when Fluffy touches the television with his paw,when he touches the on button with his paw,and finally when Fluffy hits the on button with his paw.This is an example of using shaping to:
A) change a dimension of an existing behavior
B) generate a novel behavior
C) increase an existing behavior
D) reinstate a previous behavior

Question

Sara wants to teach her cat Fluffy to use his paw to turn on the television.Sara differentially reinforces Fluffy's behavior of being within one foot of the television,being within one foot and facing the television,when Fluffy touches the television with his paw,when he touches the on button with his paw,and finally when Fluffy hits the on button with his paw.This is an example of using shaping to:​
A) ​change a dimension of an existing behavior
B) ​generate a novel behavior
C) ​increase an existing behavior
D) ​reinstate a previous behavior

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations towards a desired behavior. In this scenario, Sara is shaping Fluffy's behavior towards using his paw to turn on the television, by differentially reinforcing behaviors that are closer to the final behavior. Therefore, the correct option is B, generating a novel behavior.

Sara Wants to Teach Her Cat Fluffy to Use His