In our previous lessons on prompting and fading, we looked at transferring behaviours that occur with a prompt to the natural or other desired antecedent SD.
But what do we do if the target behaviour is not currently in a learner?s behavioural repertoire?
Shaping is a process through which a behaviour that is not currently performed is established within their repertoire.
When using Shaping we begin by identifying the behaviour we want to establish. This behaviour is called a terminal goal.? If we were teaching a young child to ask for a ball, the terminal behaviour would be saying the word ?ball? when they want a ball.
The next step is to identify a behaviour that the learner currently engages in that is closest to the terminal goal behaviour. For example, if we are trying to get a learner to ask for a ?ball?, we might note that they can currently make the /b/ sound.?
The third step is to provide reinforcement for the current closest approximation. Using our currently example, the teacher would set up situations where she knew that the learner wanted a ball. She would then provide reinforcement (the ball) when the child made the /b/ sound, but not reinforce the behaviour when he made other sounds.
Subsequent steps would involve changing the criteria for reinforcement.?? Each criteria change should represent a move toward an approximation that is closer to the terminal goal.? In our example, this might mean that the teacher changes the reinforcement criteria from the /b/ sound to saying ?Baw?. All other behaviours (including? saying /b/) would not receive reinforcement.??
One the learner is making the sound ?baw?, the final criteria would be terminal behaviour of saying the word ?ball? when the learner wants a ball.
In short, shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations towards a terminal goal behaviour.
Shaping is a powerful process by which our social and physical environments alter our behaviours.? It is present from birth. For example, babies and toddlers learn to walk via shaping.? Initially, a baby is reinforced for crawling through social praise and access to tangible reinforcers in their environment.? Later, they will receive reinforcement for standing or taking a step. Social reinforcement tends to decrease or disappear for crawling at this stage.? Later, lots of social reinforcement will be provided for taking a few steps and finally walking.
Parents often appear to naturally use shaping. For example, if teaching a child to brush their teeth, the parent may initially provide reinforcement for just placing the brush to the teeth. They might then provide praise and other social reinforcement for lightly brushing different teeth. Their criteria for reinforcement would later change to more intense brushing of all teeth.
But shaping does not stop after childhood. If you joined a gym to learn how to box, your trainer would likely, consciously or not, utilise shaping. Initially, sloppy forms of punches would be reinforced. But the reinforcement criteria would change over time, with only punches that demonstrate good form being reinforced.
In the above examples, we discussed shaping in isolation. In the real world, we typically combine techniques like shaping with techniques such as prompting, fading and enhanced? schedules of reinforcement In future modules, we?ll look at examples of how we might combine the procedures you?re currently looking at, but for now, make sure you?ve mastered the concept of shaping by completing the consolidation exercise.
Shopping Basket