Which technique involves reinforcing successive approximations toward a final behavior and generally takes longer?

Which technique involves reinforcing successive approximations toward a final behavior and generally takes longer?

• A. Shaping
• B. Capturing
• C. Targeting
• D. Prompting

Answer: (B)

Shaping is the process of reinforcing successive approximations toward a final behavior. You start by reinforcing any small action the dog offers that is a step in the right direction, then gradually require closer and closer steps until the full behavior is achieved. Because it builds the behavior piece by piece, it typically takes longer than methods that don’t rely on a gradual sequence. For example, to teach a dog to fetch a named object, you’d reinforce looking at the object first, then approaching it, then touching it with the nose, picking it up, bringing it back, and finally dropping it into your hand. Each tiny step is reinforced, and the final fetch emerges from many small progressions. Capturing reinforces a behavior as it occurs naturally, which can happen quickly if the dog happens to offer it, but it’s not about building a chain of gradual steps toward a complex action. Prompting uses cues to elicit the behavior and is often sped up by prompts, but it isn’t the same as reinforcing a series of approximations toward a final behavior. Targeting involves guiding the dog to touch or follow a target; it can be used within shaping, but on its own it describes a specific action rather than the broader process of shaping toward a complex behavior.

Shaping is the process of reinforcing successive approximations toward a final behavior. You start by reinforcing any small action the dog offers that is a step in the right direction, then gradually require closer and closer steps until the full behavior is achieved. Because it builds the behavior piece by piece, it typically takes longer than methods that don’t rely on a gradual sequence.

For example, to teach a dog to fetch a named object, you’d reinforce looking at the object first, then approaching it, then touching it with the nose, picking it up, bringing it back, and finally dropping it into your hand. Each tiny step is reinforced, and the final fetch emerges from many small progressions.

Capturing reinforces a behavior as it occurs naturally, which can happen quickly if the dog happens to offer it, but it’s not about building a chain of gradual steps toward a complex action. Prompting uses cues to elicit the behavior and is often sped up by prompts, but it isn’t the same as reinforcing a series of approximations toward a final behavior. Targeting involves guiding the dog to touch or follow a target; it can be used within shaping, but on its own it describes a specific action rather than the broader process of shaping toward a complex behavior.