Shaping

The video above illustrates the process of shaping. When a behavior is complex and not something that an organism does naturally (i.e a rat pressing a lever) shaping is beneficial. Shaping reinforces successive approximations of the desired behavior. Like the video showed above, when wanting a rat to press a lever you may first reward the rat when he gets near the lever. The next reinforment comes when the rat goes a step farther by touching the lever. Through spaing, you guide the organism to the desired behavior by rewarding the rat's following behaviors only whenthey are closer to the previous until the desired behavior is reached.