Bobby's parents are frustrated because he never cleans his room. In order to modify their son's behaviour, they start reinforcing Bobby with 25 cents, every time he simply throws his clothes into a particular corner instead of all around the room. After some time passes, they only reinforce him if he puts his clothes in the hamper. As this process continues, Bobby's parents keep gradually changing the terms of reinforcement so that Bobby has to do more and more of the tasks required to keep his room clean. After
Several months of this, Bobby cleans his entire room for the same 25-cent reward. This example best demonstrates the process of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shaping is a type of operant conditioning in which a desired behavior is gradually reinforced by rewarding successive approximations of the target behavior. In this example, Bobby's parents gradually increased the requirements for reinforcement, eventually leading him to clean his entire room for the same reward.

Bobby's Parents Are Frustrated Because He Never Cleans His Room