Which term describes the broader process of shaping behavior by reinforcing successive approximations toward a target?

• A. Behavior Shaping
• B. Reward Schedule
• C. Successive Approximation
• D. Continuous Reward Schedule

Answer: (A)

Shaping trains behavior by reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a target. It describes the overall method of guiding a dog to a complex task by rewarding small steps that resemble the final behavior, then progressively raising the criteria. In practice, you might reward any movement toward the goal, then require more accurate responses as training progresses until the full behavior is produced. The term for this entire process is behavior shaping. The other options refer to how reinforcement is given (reward schedule, continuous) or to the individual steps along the way (successive approximations), not the entire shaping method.