The Psychiatric Technician has decided to use the technique of "shaping" to enable the developmentally disabled student to complete his homework assignments. Which of the following should the Psychiatric Technician do?

The Psychiatric Technician has decided to use the technique of "shaping" to enable the developmentally disabled student to complete his homework assignments. Which of the following should the Psychiatric Technician do?

• A. Provide verbal praise to the student when he completes more of his assignment today than he did yesterday.
• B. Praise the student when studies and sets a good example for others.
• C. Give movie tickets to the student when he has 100% compliance in all desired behaviors.
• D. Change the size of the prize to match the degree to which the student's behavior was in compliance.

Answer: (A)

Shaping involves reinforcing small, achievable steps that lead toward a desired behavior. In this scenario, giving verbal praise when the student completes more of his homework today than yesterday reinforces an incremental improvement toward finishing the assignment. This keeps the student motivated with attainable progress and creates a clear link between effort and reward, which is the essence of shaping. Praising the student for studying and setting a good example for others doesn’t directly reinforce progress on the homework task itself, so it doesn’t guide the individual toward the target behavior. Requiring 100% compliance before any reward sets an all-or-nothing standard that makes incremental progress hard to achieve, undermining shaping. Changing the prize size to match the degree of compliance resembles a proportional reinforcement plan rather than reinforcing successive approximations toward the goal, which is not how shaping typically operates.

Shaping involves reinforcing small, achievable steps that lead toward a desired behavior. In this scenario, giving verbal praise when the student completes more of his homework today than yesterday reinforces an incremental improvement toward finishing the assignment. This keeps the student motivated with attainable progress and creates a clear link between effort and reward, which is the essence of shaping.

Praising the student for studying and setting a good example for others doesn’t directly reinforce progress on the homework task itself, so it doesn’t guide the individual toward the target behavior. Requiring 100% compliance before any reward sets an all-or-nothing standard that makes incremental progress hard to achieve, undermining shaping. Changing the prize size to match the degree of compliance resembles a proportional reinforcement plan rather than reinforcing successive approximations toward the goal, which is not how shaping typically operates.