Beyond the "hot-and-cold" game: A demonstration of computer-controlled shaping

Shaping, or the method of successive approximations, is widely taught in in troductory psychology and the psychology of learning as a procedure for est ablishing new behavior. This article illustrates a computer-controlled shap ing demonstration that allows the user to specify several critical paramete rs of the shaping process and that then shapes the user's mouse movements t oward an arbitrary virtual (invisible) target on the computer screen. The r elative effectiveness of different shaping parameters can be assessed by ex amining several dependent measures, such as the distance of the cursor from the target across time and the rate at which reinforcers were earned. This demonstration allows students to move beyond the notion that shaping is si mply the application of the "hot-and-cold" game and to understand that ther e is a science underlying the art of shaping.