shaping

n. the production of new forms of operant behavior by reinforcement of successive approximations to the behavior (see method of successive approximations). Also called approximation conditioning; behavior shaping.

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Psychology term of the day

April 19th 2024

consistent missing

in parapsychology experiments using Zener cards or similar targets, the phenomenon in which a participant’s “calls,” or guesses, are consistently wrong or significantly below chance expectations. Some people attribute such systematic failure to processing error or a conscious or nonconscious reluctance to confirm psychic ability. See also psi-missing.