Question

In teaching her son to play basketball, Mrs. Richards initially reinforces him with praise for simply dribbling while standing still, then only for walking while dribbling, and finally only for running while dribbling. She is using a procedure known as:

Answer 1

She is using a procedure known as shaping.

Step-by-step explanation:

Shaping is an approach used in operant conditioning to facilitate the learning process. When using the shaping procedure, instead of only reinforcing the desired behavior, the reinforcement takes place every time there are succesive approximations of the desired behavior. The main idea is that, over time, the approximations will lead to the desired behavior.

In this case, Mrs. Richards wants her son to run while dribbling, but she doesn't wait until he achieves that to reinforce the behavior, instead, she begins reinforcing small approximations, like walking while dribbling, until he eventually learns what she wanted.