Which statement best captures shaping in behavior change procedures?

• A. Shaping reinforces successive approximations toward a target.
• B. Shaping punishes incorrect attempts.
• C. Shaping ignores gradual progress.
• D. Shaping relies on extinction of all responses.

Answer: (A)

Shaping reinforces successive approximations toward a target behavior. It starts with a behavior the learner already emits and gradually reinforces closer and closer versions of the desired skill, increasing the criteria as performance improves. For example, teaching a child to say a full sentence might begin by reinforcing a single word, then two-word phrases, and so on until the complete sentence is produced. This incremental reinforcement builds complex behaviors, unlike punishment (which suppresses behavior), ignoring gradual progress (which stalls learning), or extinction (which aims to remove a behavior rather than scaffold toward a new one).