1. What is shaping, and what dimensions of behaviour does it affect?
2. What are some applications of shaping?
3. Describe early research on shaping by B. F. Skinner.
4. What is the procedure for using shaping?
5. What are some limitations of shaping?
How can a person be taught to speak ______?
(Fleece et al., 1981)
- Crystal, a 4-year-old child in a private preschool program for those with intellectual disabilities or developmental delays
- ____________ testing could not be completed
- showed extreme shyness, social withdrawal, and spoke at a barely _______ level
- behavioural treatment program:
• Crystal recited nursery rhymes while her voice ______ was measured for 15 minutes, twice a week
• apparatus: used a sound-sensitive apparatus with a visual display of red and green lights arranged to look like a Christmas ____
• voice-activated relay would turn on the lights at a certain volume level
• over sessions, threshold level required to turn on lights was increased
- results: Crystal’s voice volume _________
• at the end of training, a Stanford-Binet IQ test was able to be completed
• Crystal scored 93, and was recommended to be placed in a _______ educational setting
- definition: the differential reinforcement of successive approximations of the target behaviour until the target behaviour (or “________ behaviour”) is reached
• ____________ reinforcement: one particular behaviour is reinforced, whereas all other behaviours are not
• successive approximations: each consecutive behaviour more closely resembles the target behaviour in a series of shaping steps
- used if target behaviour is novel, or to reinstate a previous behaviour not currently exhibited
- ________ behaviour (first approximation) which is most similar to the target behaviour is reinforced
- next, this behaviour is extinguished (no longer reinforced)
- this results in an extinction burst and novel behaviours
- the novel behaviour most similar to the target behaviour (the next approximation) is reinforced
- this _________ further novel behaviours
Shaping “steps”:
- advance to next approximation only after current one has been mastered
- if shaping steps advance too quickly and behaviour deteriorates, ______ to a previous approximation
- if gaps are too small, shaping will be time-consuming (and _________) and the person can become bored
Dimensions of behaviour:
• ____________ shaping: setting criteria to increase (or decrease) a dimension of an existing behaviour
- frequency
e.g., number of dishes washed in a 5-minute period
- duration
e.g., time spent exercising on a treadmill
- latency
e.g., time elapsed between being told to be seated in class and doing so
- intensity
e.g., amount of weight lifted
• ___________ (or topographic) shaping: degree to which successive behaviours resemble the target behaviour
e.g., 
e.g., teaching vocal imitation to a child with severe disabilities (Alberto, 2013)
- present SD “ah”
- _________ any vocalization (starting behaviour)
- then, reinforce only vowel-like sounds (intermediate behaviours)
- finally, reinforce only exact imitations of “ah” (target behaviour)
Shaping has been applied to:
• physical therapy and ________
• appropriate classroom behaviours
• animal training (zoos/animal parks, companion animals, pets, ________ detection)
How to ______ train your cat (Kunkel, 1991; Lau, 2008):
1. place cat’s litter box next to the toilet for several days
2. raise the height of the litter box by 6 cm every day over several weeks, until it is the same height as the toilet seat
3. tape toilet lid up and secure litter box on the toilet seat; remove any materials used to raise the box in step 2
4. put a pan or container in the toilet, under the seat, and fill it with litter
5. make a hole in the centre of the pan, and gradually make it larger (use _________ cat litter)
6. as the hole becomes larger, the cat will not be able to stand in the pan and will balance on the seat instead
7. remove the pan
Life magazine (1937):
- article titled “This smart University of Minnesota rat works a ____ _______ for a living”
- had pictures of B.F. Skinner’s rat Pliny
- Pliny pulled a hanging chain with his teeth, causing a marble to fall into its cage
- Pliny picked up marble and put it into a slot
- marble closed a circuit, causing food to drop into feeding tray
- early example of _______
Skinner (1958):
- described working with colleagues on a wartime project in 1943
- Project Pigeon (later Project Orcon, for “organic control”) attempted to use pigeons to guide missiles
- lab was on the top floor of a flour mill, which attracted a lot of _______
- caught one and put it in a cardboard carton with a food dispenser
- tried to teach it to bowl (knocking a wooden ball with its beak down a miniature alley toward toy bowling pins)
- nothing happened; pigeon never swiped at the ball with its beak
- instead, they decided to reinforce any response that ____________ a swipe: first looking at the ball, then moving its head toward it, making contact with it, etc.
- in a few minutes, the pigeon was _______
- described it as a “great illumination” and “Possibly our most __________ experiment” (Skinner, 1979, p.268)
- one of Skinner’s colleagues, Keller Breland, was so impressed that he gave up his career in psychology to become an animal trainer for TV commercials
Skinner (1951): article in Scientific American
- claimed it was easy to shape behaviour in pigeons, dogs, and babies
Look magazine (1952):
- challenged Skinner to back up his claims
- brought a Dalmatian (“Roadcoach Cheerful” or “Agnes”) to Skinner’s workshop at Harvard
- in 20 minutes, Skinner ______ Agnes to jump up a wall
- then shaped her to open a wastebasket
1. ______ target/terminal behaviour precisely
2. determine whether shaping is the most ___________ procedure
- if person does not exhibit target behaviour
- if you cannot tell the person to perform target behaviour
3. identify ________ behaviour: should already be demonstrated by the individual
4. choose shaping _____/approximations
5. decide what reinforcer to apply
- food can lead to satiation; money does not
6. apply reinforcement to successive approximations (and apply extinction to previous approximations)
7. proceed through shaping steps at appropriate ____
(Cooper et al., 2020)
1. can be time-consuming, if numerous approximations are required
2. progress is not always linear--it may be erratic
3. requires behaviour change agent to continuously and closely monitor behaviour to detect the next approximation
4. may inadvertently shape problem behaviours, e.g., children’s ________:
- in infancy, crying is reinforced: food is presented, or wet diapers are changed
- in early childhood, children learn _____: phrases to request a desired stimulus
- if parents do not comply immediately, children become frustrated and complain
- behaviour may elevate to screaming, which is aversive to parents and embarrassing in public
- parents “give in,” providing attention or a treat, which __________ the tantrum
- this inadvertent shaping can increase the frequency and intensity of tantrums