Question

Ian tends to be very shy about participating in class discussions. You decide to try to promote greater participation in class discussion by first smiling encouragingly at him when he merely looks interested in saying something, then smiling at him when he raises his hand, and then praising him when he actually makes a contribution. The technique you are using is referred to as:___________.
a. spontaneous recovery.b. shaping.
c. extinction.
d. positive reinforcement.

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is b. shaping.

Explanation:

Shaping refers to the process of reaching a desired behaviour by reinforcing other similar behaviour. This is known as "successive approximations". For example, if a researcher is trying to teach a rat to pull a level, he might start by reinforcing the rat for standing near the lever. The reward then stops and another similar behaviour is reinforced, such as touching the lever. Eventually, the desired behaviour should take place.