Chapter 16 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis 469(B) of dressing himself.
This response must be
within the boy’s reper-
toire and must not be
interfered with by com-
peting or antagonistic
behaviors, such as dis-
tractions from siblings or
television. The conse-
quence is the reward (C),
that is, the candy.
If reinforcement
in creases the probability
that a given response
will recur, then how can
behavior be shaped from
the relatively undifferen-
tiated into the highly complex? In other words, why doesn’t the organism simply
repeat the old reinforced response? Why does it emit new responses that have never
been reinforced but that gradually move it toward the target behavior? The answer
is that behavior is not discrete but continuous; that is, the organism usually moves
slightly beyond the previously reinforced response. If behavior were discrete, shap-
ing could not occur because the organism would become locked into simply emit-
ting previously reinforced responses. Because behavior is continuous, the organism
moves slightly beyond the previously reinforced response, and this slightly excep-
tional value can then be used as the new minimum standard for reinforcement.
(The organism may also move slightly backward or slightly sideways, but only
movements toward the desired target are reinforced.) Skinner (1953) compared
shaping behavior to a sculptor molding a statue from a large lump of clay. In both
cases, the final product seems to be different from the original form, but the history
of the transformation reveals continuous behavior and not a set of discrete steps.
Operant behavior always takes place in some environment, and the environment
has a selective role in shaping and maintaining behavior. Each of us has a history of
being reinforced by reacting to some elements in our environment but not to others.
This history of differential reinforcement results in operant discrimination. Skinner
claimed that discrimination is not an ability that we possess but a consequence of our
reinforcement history. We do not come to the dinner table because we discern that
the food is ready; we come because our previous experiences of reacting in a similar
way have been mostly reinforced. This distinction may seem to be splitting hairs, but
Skinner felt that it had important theoretical and practical implications. Advocates of
the first explanation see discrimination as a cognitive function, existing within the
person, whereas Skinner accounted for this behavior by environmental differences and
by the individual’s history of reinforcement. The first explanation is beyond the scope
of empirical observation; the second can be scientifically studied.
A response to a similar environment in the absence of previous reinforce-
ment is called stimulus generalization. An example of stimulus generalization is
provided by a college student’s purchase of a ticket to a rock concert performed
Even complex behavior, such as learning to work a computer, is
acquired through shaping and successive approximation.
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