During shaping, the occurrence of slightly different responses within the same response class, emitted and placed on extinction until the next variation emerges, illustrates which concept?

• A. Differential reinforcement
• B. Shaping within topography
• C. Chaining
• D. Response differentiation

Answer: (D)

The main idea is differentiating among responses that are all part of the same response class during shaping. As you shape toward a target, you reinforce the responses that meet the current criterion and place other, near-miss responses on extinction. This selective reinforcement causes these slightly different responses to fade away until the next variation appears, yielding a more distinct, differentiated behavior within that class. This process is called response differentiation, reflecting how you refine the form of a behavior by discriminating among closely related responses and reinforcing only the ones that meet the criterion.