Johnny is intellectually disabled and is learning to take care of his supervised apartment at the residential center, to keep his clothes clean, and to cook simple foods. The therapist will be using tokens to improve Johnny's independent living skills. Johnny will be able to exchange these tokens for trips to the bowling alley, the mall, or a movie. The therapist initially rewards Johnny for attempting each target behavior. As the training proceeds, Johnny will be required to gradually improve his performance of these skills, such as his food preparation progressing from making sandwiches to actually cooking various foods using the microwave and stove. This gradual improvement of Johnny's independent living skills is an example of the use of

Question

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Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior until the desired behavior is achieved. In Johnny's case, the therapist rewards him for small improvements in his independent living skills, gradually requiring better performance, which is a classic example of shaping.

Johnny Is Intellectually Disabled and Is Learning to Take Care