Shaping is an operant conditioning technique that does what?

Shaping is an operant conditioning technique that does what?

• A. Habituation
• B. Shaping
• C. Classical Conditioning
• D. Extinction

Answer: (B)

Shaping is a method in operant conditioning where you reinforce behaviors as they come closer and closer to the target action, guiding learning through successive approximations until the full behavior is produced. You start with a behavior the subject already does or with a small component of the desired behavior, and you reward steps that resemble the goal. Over time, you reinforce increasingly precise versions, building the complete behavior step by step. This approach uses reinforcement to shape complex actions that aren’t performed spontaneously, often employing positive reinforcement to keep motivation high. It differs from habituation, which is a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus and doesn’t involve building new behaviors. It’s also distinct from classical conditioning, which pairs a neutral stimulus with a meaningful one to elicit a conditioned response, rather than shaping a sequence of actions. And it’s not extinction, which happens when reinforcement is removed and the behavior fades away. A common example is teaching a dog to roll over: reward lying down, then rolling onto the side, then the full roll, reinforcing each successful step until the complete behavior is performed reliably.

Shaping is a method in operant conditioning where you reinforce behaviors as they come closer and closer to the target action, guiding learning through successive approximations until the full behavior is produced. You start with a behavior the subject already does or with a small component of the desired behavior, and you reward steps that resemble the goal. Over time, you reinforce increasingly precise versions, building the complete behavior step by step. This approach uses reinforcement to shape complex actions that aren’t performed spontaneously, often employing positive reinforcement to keep motivation high.

It differs from habituation, which is a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus and doesn’t involve building new behaviors. It’s also distinct from classical conditioning, which pairs a neutral stimulus with a meaningful one to elicit a conditioned response, rather than shaping a sequence of actions. And it’s not extinction, which happens when reinforcement is removed and the behavior fades away. A common example is teaching a dog to roll over: reward lying down, then rolling onto the side, then the full roll, reinforcing each successful step until the complete behavior is performed reliably.