As a marine biologist, you are trying to teach a dolphin to jump over a bar. At first, you reward the dolphin every time it swims near the bar. Then, you only reward her when she emerges from the water near the bar. Eventually, you reward the dolphin each time she jumps out of the water. Then, you only reward the dolphin when she jumps over the bar. This technique is an example of

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This technique being described is called shaping, in which the desired behavior (jumping over the bar) is achieved through successive approximations, beginning with rewarding the dolphin for simply swimming near the bar and gradually increasing the level of difficulty until the behavior is fully achieved. Classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with a naturally occurring reflex response to eventually evoke that response with the neutral stimulus alone, which is not what is happening in this scenario. Spontaneous recovery refers to the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response, which is also not applicable here. Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between similar stimuli and respond only to the relevant one, but this is not the main focus of the technique being used. Positive punishment involves adding an aversive stimulus to decrease behavior, which is not the case here as only positive reinforcement is being used.

As a Marine Biologist, You Are Trying to Teach a Dolphin