Shaping Behaviour and Behaviour Chains

Flashcards focused on key vocabulary terms related to behaviour shaping and behaviour chains.

Natural Selection

The process by which certain traits become more or less common in a population due to the survival and reproduction of individuals with those traits.

Artificial Selection

The intentional breeding of organisms to produce desired traits, often by humans.

Shaping

Differential reinforcement of successive approximations of a target behaviour.

Differential Reinforcement

Reinforcing some responses but not others, leading to an increase in desirable behaviour.

Superstitious Behaviour

Behaviour that occurs even though it does not produce a consequence.

Discriminative Stimuli (SD)

Stimuli that signal the availability of reinforcement contingent upon a specific behaviour.

Behaviour Chain

A sequence of two or more component behaviours that occur together in a specific order.

Forward Chaining

Learning a task by starting from the first component and reinforcing until that behaviour is reliable before moving to the next component.

Backward Chaining

Learning a task by starting from the last component and working backwards, reinforcing each step.

Task Analysis

Breaking down a task into its individual components to facilitate learning.

Reinforcer

A stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.

Clicker Training

A training method that uses a click sound to mark a desired behaviour, providing immediate reinforcement.