If you wanted to teach your pet parakeet to give you a kiss on the cheek,which technique would be most effective

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations towards a desired behavior. In this case, the desired behavior is a kiss on the cheek. The trainer would start by reinforcing any behavior that approximates a kiss, such as the bird moving towards the cheek or tapping the cheek with its beak. Over time, the trainer would withhold the reinforcement until the bird actually touches its beak to the trainer's cheek, and then gradually increase the specificity of the behavior until the bird consistently gives a kiss on the cheek. This method is effective because it breaks down the behavior into smaller, achievable steps and reinforces each one along the way. Higher-order conditioning, modelling, and classical conditioning may not be as effective for teaching this specific behavior to a pet bird.

If You Wanted to Teach Your Pet Parakeet to Give