Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionV. Learning Theories 15. Skinner: Behavioral
Analysis© The McGraw−Hill^457
Companies, 2009such as distractions from
siblings or television. The
consequence is the re-
ward (C), that is, the
candy.
If reinforcement in-
creases the probability
that a given response will
recur, then how can be-
havior be shaped from
the relatively undifferen-
tiated into the highly
complex? In other words,
why doesn’t the organism
simply repeat the old re-
inforced response? Why
does it emit new re-
sponses that have never
been reinforced but that
gradually move it toward
the target behavior? The
answer is that behavior is
not discrete but continu-
ous; that is, the organism
usually moves slightly
beyond the previously re-
inforced response. If be-
havior were discrete, shaping could not occur because the organism would become
locked into simply emitting previously reinforced responses. Because behavior is
continuous, the organism moves slightly beyond the previously reinforced response,
and this slightly exceptional value can then be used as the new minimum standard
for reinforcement. (The organism may also move slightly backward or slightly side-
ways, 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 environ-
ment has a selective role in shaping and maintaining behavior. Each of us has a his-
tory 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 conse-
quence 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 react-
ing 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 impli-
cations. Advocates of the first explanation see discrimination as a cognitive function,
Chapter 15 Skinner: Behavioral Analysis 451Even complex behavior, such as learning to work a computer, is
acquired through shaping and successive approximation.