Shaping
A technique used to teach a desired behavior by reinforcing increasingly accurate approximations of the behavior.1
Complex behaviors can be difficult to teach. Shaping is a strategy whereby complex behaviors are broken down into smaller, simpler subbehaviors, and then taught one by one. The behaviors are reinforced (e.g., given food), and ultimately chained together to achieve a desired result. For example, to teach a mouse to press a lever, the mouse is first reinforced to move close to the lever; then reinforced only when it makes contact with the lever; and eventually only when it presses the lever.2
Often, shaping occurs without awareness. ...
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