Sandy was learning to play baseball.Initially her coach told her "good job" every time she was able to make contact with the ball.This switched to only saying "good job" when the ball was hit fair, and eventually only when a hit resulted in Sandy's getting on base.Based on what is known about operant conditioning, you should conclude that the coach developed Sandy's baseball skills using the process known as:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The coach developed Sandy's baseball skills by using the process known as shaping, which is the gradual reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior. Initially, any contact with the ball was reinforced positively with "good job," and then the criteria for reinforcement were gradually raised to hitting the ball fair and eventually getting on base. This is an example of shaping in which behavior is gradually molded using reinforcement to increase the likelihood of desired behavior.

Sandy Was Learning to Play Baseball