C.10 Shaping
Shaping builds a new behavior by reinforcing successive approximations, responses that come closer and closer to a defined terminal behavior, while earlier approximations stop being reinforced. RBTs implement shaping by reinforcing only responses that meet the current step's criterion, moving between steps exactly as the plan states, and recording which approximation occurred on each opportunity.
What the outline says
Task C.10 in content area C, Behavior Acquisition (19 of the 75 scored questions): "Implement shaping procedures."
What shaping is
Shaping is the differential reinforcement of successive approximations toward a terminal behavior. The terminal behavior is the final form of the behavior the plan aims for, such as saying "ball," sitting at the dinner table for 15 minutes or holding a pencil with a three-finger grip. Successive approximations are the steps in between, each one closer to the terminal behavior than the one before.
Differential reinforcement in shaping has two parts. Responses that meet the current criterion are reinforced, and earlier approximations that used to be reinforced are now placed on extinction. As the criterion moves, the client's responding moves with it.
Shaping is most useful when the target behavior does not yet occur and cannot easily be prompted, as with many speech sounds. It starts from something the client already does that resembles the goal, so the client contacts reinforcement from the first step.
Two ways shaping is used
Across response topographies: the form of the behavior changes from step to step. Reinforcing "b," then only "ba," then only "ball" is an example, as is moving from a fist grip to a three-finger grip on a pencil.
Within a response topography: the form stays the same while one dimension of the behavior changes. Examples include reinforcing slightly louder speech (magnitude), longer sitting (duration), starting work sooner after an instruction (latency) or getting dressed in less time. A plan that moves the criterion from 20 to 15 to 10 minutes of dressing time is shaping, even though the form of dressing never changes.
Implementing shaping step by step
- Know the terminal behavior, the list of steps and the rule for moving between steps. The supervisor writes all three.
- Check that the reinforcer is something the client currently wants, for example by offering a choice as the plan directs. Free access to the item all day can cause satiation.
- Watch each response closely. Reinforce immediately when a response meets or goes beyond the current criterion, so the exact approximation is strengthened and not some other behavior. A marker such as "Yes!" said at the moment of the response, followed by the reinforcer, can help when handing over an item takes a moment.
- Withhold reinforcement for responses below the current criterion, even if they are better than baseline. If today's criterion is starting within 20 seconds, a 25-second start is not reinforced.
- Move to the next step when the plan's rule is met. If the rule is "4 consecutive opportunities," count carefully: met, not met, met, met, met, met means moving after the sixth opportunity.
- If the plan says to step back after repeated failures, step back. If progress stalls and the plan has no rule, keep following the plan and share the data with your supervisor promptly.
- Record which approximation occurred on each opportunity and whether it met the criterion.
What to expect while shaping
When the criterion moves and an earlier approximation stops producing reinforcement, it is on extinction. You may see an extinction burst: the old approximation briefly occurs more often or more forcefully, sometimes with fussing. You will also see more variable responding. That variability is useful, because some of the new variations are closer to the target and can be reinforced.
Step size matters. If a step is too large, the client may stop responding and become upset because reinforcement is no longer available. If one step is reinforced much longer than needed, the client can get stuck there and the next step becomes harder. Your supervisor sets step sizes; your data show whether they fit.
Shaping can also happen by accident. If a caregiver ignores quiet whining but gives a tablet once the child screams loudly, louder and louder screams are being reinforced. This unplanned shaping is one reason consistent implementation across adults matters. When two RBTs use different criteria, the earlier approximation keeps getting reinforced and progress slows.
Shaping compared with similar procedures
- Chaining (C.5) links separate behaviors into a sequence; shaping gradually changes one behavior.
- Prompt fading and stimulus fading (C.7) keep the response the same and gradually change the help or the antecedent stimulus; shaping changes the response itself.
- Stimulus shaping changes the form of an antecedent stimulus, such as a picture gradually turning into a printed word; shaping changes the client's response.
- DRA (D.3) reinforces one alternative behavior at a fixed standard; shaping reinforces a series of approximations with a criterion that moves.
A known limitation of shaping is that it can be slow and requires close attention to every response. It can be combined with prompts when the plan calls for it.
Examples and non-examples
| Example | Non-example |
|---|---|
| The current step is any response containing "ba," and the client says "ball" clearly; the RBT reinforces immediately because the response exceeds the criterion. | The RBT withholds reinforcement for "ball" because it is not the exact current step. |
| A client who already sits for about 2 minutes starts on a 2-minute criterion, which is raised to 3, 5 and then 8 minutes as the plan directs. | The plan for the same client starts at 15 minutes, the final goal, so the client rarely contacts reinforcement. |
| Reinforcing basketball throws that land closer and closer to the hoop. | Guiding a client's hand through tracing and then using a lighter touch, which is prompt fading. |
Common mistakes
- Reinforcing responses below the current criterion 'to keep motivation up.' This keeps earlier approximations strong and stalls progress.
- Withholding reinforcement for a response that goes beyond the criterion. Any response that meets or exceeds the current step is reinforced.
- Skipping steps, lowering criteria or adding prompts on your own. Share observations and data with the supervisor instead.
- Confusing shaping with chaining or fading. Ask: is one response changing step by step (shaping), are separate steps being linked (chaining), or is help or a cue being removed (fading)?
- Delayed reinforcement. Even a short delay can strengthen whatever the client did in between.
How it's tested
Expect scenarios that ask you to identify shaping among chaining, prompt fading, stimulus fading and DRA; to say what to do when a response falls short of, meets or exceeds the current criterion; to name the dimension being shaped (magnitude, duration, latency); or to explain extinction bursts and variability during shaping. Read the plan details in the question carefully: the right answer usually applies the current criterion exactly and leaves changes to the supervisor.
Practice questions for task C.10
10 of our 34 questions on this task. The rest are in the Behavior Acquisition practice sets and the mock exams.
-
Question 1What is shaping?
Show answer
A: Reinforcing successive approximations of a terminal behavior. Shaping builds a new behavior by reinforcing responses that are closer and closer to the target behavior while no longer reinforcing earlier, less similar forms.
- B: Reinforcing steps of a task analysis in order from the first step is forward chaining.
- C: Gradually removing an added cue is stimulus fading.
- D: Reinforcement on a time schedule regardless of behavior is noncontingent reinforcement.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 2In shaping, what are successive approximations?
Show answer
D: Responses that come closer and closer to the target behavior. Successive approximations are the series of responses, each more like the terminal behavior than the one before, that are reinforced one after another during shaping.
- A: Linking separate behaviors into a sequence is chaining.
- B: Fading prompts from most to least intrusive is a prompting procedure, not a series of responses.
- C: Stimuli that signal reinforcement is available are discriminative stimuli.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 3An RBT first reinforces a client for saying "b," then reinforces only "ba," and then reinforces only "ball." Which procedure is the RBT implementing?
Show answer
B: Shaping. Each reinforced response is a closer approximation of the word "ball," and earlier forms stop being reinforced as the criterion moves. That is shaping.
- A: Forward chaining links separate behaviors in a sequence; here a single response is gradually changed.
- C: Stimulus fading changes an antecedent cue, not the client's response.
- D: Most-to-least prompting changes the level of help given, not the form of the response that earns reinforcement.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 4What is the key difference between shaping and chaining?
Show answer
C: Shaping changes one behavior gradually; chaining links behaviors in a sequence. In shaping, the form or another dimension of one behavior changes step by step. In chaining, several distinct behaviors that are already possible or taught are linked in a set order, such as the steps of hand-washing.
- A: Chaining also uses reinforcement.
- B: Both procedures can be used with verbal and motor skills.
- D: Starting with the last step describes backward chaining, which is one type of chaining, not shaping.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 5Which two processes make up the differential reinforcement used in shaping?
Show answer
A: Reinforcing the current approximation; extinction of earlier ones. In shaping, responses that meet the current criterion are reinforced, while earlier approximations that used to be reinforced are now placed on extinction. This shifts responding toward the terminal behavior.
- B: Shaping does not use punishment for earlier approximations; they simply stop being reinforced.
- C: Prompting and prompt fading are a different procedure.
- D: Noncontingent reinforcement is not contingent on any response, so it cannot select closer approximations.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 6In a shaping plan for staying seated, the client now reliably sits for 1 minute. The plan says to move the criterion to 2 minutes. What should the RBT do now?
Show answer
A: Reinforce only sitting that lasts 2 minutes or longer. Once the criterion moves, only responses that meet the new criterion are reinforced. Continuing to reinforce the earlier approximation would slow or stop progress.
- B: Reinforcing 1-minute sits after the criterion moves keeps strengthening the earlier approximation.
- C: Reinforcing any length of sitting removes the differential reinforcement that makes shaping work.
- D: Moving back a step is not what the plan says, since the client is meeting the current criterion.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 7After the criterion moves to the next approximation, the client stops responding and becomes upset. The plan says to return to the previous step if the client fails 3 trials in a row, which has now happened. What should the RBT do?
Show answer
B: Go back to the previous approximation, as the plan states. A step that is too large can lead to a breakdown in responding. The plan's rule tells the RBT to drop back to the previous approximation, where the client can contact reinforcement again.
- A: Holding a criterion the client cannot meet means no reinforcement, which can extinguish responding altogether.
- C: Skipping steps makes the requirement larger, not smaller, and is not in the plan.
- D: Giving the reinforcer for free is not part of the plan and would not strengthen any approximation.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 8Why should a shaping step not be reinforced for much longer than the plan calls for?
Show answer
D: The client may get stuck at that approximation, making the next step harder. If an approximation is reinforced too long, it becomes very strong and the client may keep repeating it rather than varying toward the next approximation.
- A: Staying at one step does not change the procedure into chaining.
- B: There is no fixed number of times an approximation may be reinforced; the plan sets the criterion for moving on.
- C: How long a step lasts does not change whether a reinforcer is conditioned or unconditioned.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 9In a vocal shaping program, the current criterion is any response that includes "ba." The client says "ball" clearly for the first time. What should the RBT do?
Show answer
C: Deliver the reinforcer, since "ball" exceeds the current criterion. Any response that meets or exceeds the current criterion is reinforced. A response closer to the terminal behavior is exactly what shaping aims for, and it is worth reporting to the supervisor.
- A: A response that goes beyond the criterion still meets it and should not be put on extinction.
- B: Asking for a less complete response would reinforce a weaker approximation.
- D: Moving back a step would lower the criterion after the client did better.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 10A client speaks so quietly that others cannot hear. The plan reinforces speech that is slightly louder than usual, then gradually louder still. Which dimension of behavior is being shaped?
Show answer
A: Magnitude. Loudness is the force or intensity of a response, its magnitude. The form of speech stays the same while the plan shapes this one dimension.
- B: Duration is how long a response lasts, not how loud it is.
- C: Latency is the time from a cue to the start of a response.
- D: Frequency is how many times a response occurs, not how loud each one is.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Answer every question to see your score.
Key terms
| Shaping | Teaching a new behavior by differentially reinforcing successive approximations, each a little closer to the target behavior, until the target itself occurs. |
|---|---|
| Successive approximations | The series of intermediate responses in a shaping program, each one closer to the target behavior than the step before it. |
| Differential reinforcement | Reinforcing one behavior or response class while withholding reinforcement for others, usually problem behavior, so the reinforced behavior increases and the others decrease. |
| Extinction | Discontinuing the reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior, so the behavior no longer produces its maintaining consequence and decreases over time. |
| Extinction burst | A temporary increase in the frequency, duration or intensity of a behavior soon after extinction begins. |
| Response variation | During extinction, an increase in the variety of the person's responses, such as new forms or different intensities of behavior, as the old response stops producing reinforcement. |
| Dimensions of behavior | Dimensions of behavior are the measurable properties of a response: how often it repeats, how long it lasts, and when it occurs in time. |
| Chaining | Teaching procedures that link the steps of a task analysis into one complete sequence of behavior; the main types are forward, backward and total task chaining. |
| Stimulus fading | Gradually reducing an exaggerated or added feature of a stimulus, such as size, color or intensity, until the learner responds correctly to the natural stimulus alone. |
| Stimulus shaping | Gradually changing the shape or form of a stimulus, step by step, from one that already evokes the correct response into the target stimulus. |
| Duration | Duration is how long a behavior lasts, measured from the moment it starts (onset) to the moment it ends (offset). |
| Latency | Latency is the time between the onset of a stimulus, such as an instruction, and the start of the response that follows it. |
| Immediacy | Delivering a reinforcer right after the target behavior; the shorter the delay between a response and its consequence, the more effective reinforcement usually is. |
| Conditioned reinforcer | A stimulus that was once neutral and became reinforcing because it was paired with unconditioned reinforcers or other established reinforcers; also called a secondary or learned reinforcer. |
| Emotional responding | Emotional behavior such as crying, yelling, aggression or agitation that can occur as a secondary effect of extinction or punishment. |
| Procedural fidelity | Procedural fidelity is the degree to which an intervention is carried out exactly as written in the plan; it is also called treatment integrity or procedural integrity. |
| Baseline | Baseline is a condition in which the target behavior is measured repeatedly before the intervention is introduced, giving a standard to compare against. |
| Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) | Reinforcing a specific appropriate behavior that is an alternative to problem behavior while placing the problem behavior on extinction. |
| Motivating operation | An environmental variable that temporarily changes how reinforcing a stimulus is and changes how often behavior that has produced that stimulus occurs. |
| Satiation | A temporary decrease in how effective a reinforcer is, caused by recent contact with a lot of that reinforcer; it also makes behavior that produces it less likely. |