Shaping: Shaping Behavior

Shaping or modeling, not to be confused with modeling, is a very useful behavioral technique for adopting new behaviors.

On many occasions we take it for granted that by offering guidelines for a task, the person in front of us will understand and know how to perform it. This does not always happen and it is often a source of conflict, because it is thought that the person did not apply himself enough, when he simply did not have the necessary means.

Shaping is typically used with children, but its implementation can also be effective with adults. Because it relies on reinforcement and punishment, it can be equally effective in both age groups.

What does shaping (or modeling) consist of?

Shaping is a technique aimed at developing skills that the individual does not possess. This development is achieved through successive approximations to the final behavior to be achieved. As these approximations approach the final behavior, the previous ones die out, or do not reinforce.

Objective behavior is usually defined, but it is not taught right from the start. We start by reinforcing all the behaviors, whose occurrence rate must be greater than 0, in some way related to the final behavior. The latter does not necessarily have to be the same as the reinforced pipelines, but must have a topographical and functional connection with them.

Once a certain conduct is reinforced, it is normal for it to occur more often, because the individual will want to get reinforcement. The next step involves reinforcing a behavior closer to the final one.

Natural modeling: the emergence of language

An example of natural modeling in humans is the acquisition of language in the newborn. When a child begins to stammer his first sounds, the parents are often excited and thus reinforce these small advances.

Babbling is usually rewarded with love and attention, until the baby naturally begins to develop his or her first phonemes. If instead of stammering, the child pronounces syllables like “ma” or “pa”, these will be reinforced.

Stammering will no longer be so important, and the reinforcement of attention and affection will not be gained from it. This means that reinforcement becomes more and more demanding. This happens later until the child learns to speak properly.

It would be folly to try to get the child to recite John Keats’ lines from the time he was a baby. Likewise, certain actions that are often required of children should be taught by modeling, or approximation, and not in other more direct ways.

What can be taught or changed through shaping?

Shaping is very useful when you want to teach new behaviors. This refers not only to abilities that the person is completely unaware of, but also to misconduct. For this reason, the behavior can be changed in five different aspects:

• Topography : You want to change the specific way in which the individual performs an action. Even if you know the behavior, you want to change the specific movements involved in it. For example, when a person skates with short steps to avoid falling and you want them to start taking longer steps.

• Frequency : Shaping is also useful for increasing or decreasing the number of times a known behavior is performed.

• Duration : This technique is useful for reducing or increasing the duration of a behavior. For example, you can model the amount of time a child sits at a table studying or in class.

• Latency : Latency is the time between the occurrence of a stimulus and the emission of a response. A behavior can be modeled to manifest itself as quickly as possible in the face of a particular stimulus. This could be applied when teaching children to go to the bathroom on their own.

• Intensity : You can model the strength with which a behavior is delivered. For example, in the case of a girl with few friends or socially isolated, her tone of voice can be modeled through successive approximations so that it gradually becomes more intense.

Factors affecting its effectiveness

Specify a goal

In order for the shaping to be carried out correctly it is important to define the final behavior to be obtained. The definition must include parameters such as topography, intensity or latency so that approximations can be performed correctly.

For example, the target behavior could be that Tessa, when she arrives in class, takes the material she needs from her backpack, puts it on the table and sits down to wait for the teacher.

Establish a starting point

It becomes very important to study the individual repertoire of the person to see what behaviors resemble the final behavior.

Likewise, pipelines must appear enough to be reinforced. These must be similar both topographically (in form) and functionally to the final behavior.

In this same example, a first approximation of Tessa might be that she forgets her backpack on the seat and goes running around the classroom. Pretending he doesn’t run initially can be counterproductive or even useless.

Therefore, you can start by reinforcing that you leave the backpack in place instead of throwing it on the ground or carrying it with you. It could be a first approach that he already has in his repertoire, and that comes out every morning.

Approach planning

It is helpful to plan how far the approaches will be and how fast you will go. There are no guidelines for this, so the person administering the shaping must know the characteristics of the subject.

Caution must also be used in the choice of intermediate approaches and the number of approaches. Sometimes people respond slower than we would like, but we need to be flexible and adapt to their processes.

Tessa’s intermediate approaches could be: leave the backpack on the seat, open it and take out the case; when he knows how to do it, not just take out the case, but put the pens on the table; when it is settled, not only put them on the table, but select the ones that it will use… And so on.

Secure reinforcement

There are no guidelines for the number of braces or the topology of the braces. However, it is important to be very clear that it is important to reinforce the approach many times until you are sure that it is well established. It is not enough to reinforce once and go directly to another approach. Haste doesn’t work.

It is also important not to reinforce too much. If the reinforcements are excessive, not so much in quantity, but maintained over time, it will be more difficult for more advanced behaviors to appear.

Finally, if the step from one approach to another was too big and the person doesn’t know how to do it, don’t be afraid to go back, reinforce and propose another approach closer.

Shaping: patience instead of punishment

While a technique that requires patience, shaping is postulated as a beneficial tool for teaching behaviors without resorting to frustration or wrong judgment. Adults, as well as children, may not know how to arrive at a final behavior if the path leading to it is not divided into clear parts.

Modeling allows you to teach clearly, concisely, step by step, solving doubts, in a safe and controlled way. It does not require enormous efforts because you do it little by little, until, without realizing it, you know how to do what has been so difficult to learn.