Shaping reinforces successive approximations toward a target behavior. It starts with a behavior the learner already emits and gradually reinforces closer and closer versions of the desired skill, increasing the criteria as performance improves. For example, teaching a child to say a full sentence might begin by reinforcing a single word, then two-word phrases, and so on until the complete sentence is produced. This incremental reinforcement builds complex behaviors, unlike punishment (which suppresses behavior), ignoring gradual progress (which stalls learning), or extinction (which aims to remove a behavior rather than scaffold toward a new one).

Shaping across response topographies is about reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior, and those approximations can take different forms as long as each step moves closer to the goal in form. You start with a behavior that’s reasonably close to the target and reinforce it, then gradually require and reinforce new forms that better match the desired outcome, even if the exact shape of the response changes along the way. The emphasis is on guiding change over time by rewarding progress toward the target, not on rewarding mistakes or waiting for the final form to appear. Reinforcing responses that diverge from the target would push behavior away from the goal. Focusing only on the final form ignores the gradual steps that actually build toward it. Extinguishing all intermediate steps would stop progress entirely and prevent any shaping from occurring.

Observational learning is learning that happens by watching another person perform a behavior and the consequences that follow. In the door scenario, the learner observes someone else approach and open the door, noticing the steps and the result. The observer then uses that information to reproduce the action themselves, having learned what to do without having to discover it by trial and error. This involves paying attention to the model, retaining the observed steps, translating them into their own behavior, and being motivated by the observed outcome. While imitation can occur within observational learning, the broader idea here is that learning occurred through observing the model's action and its consequences, not just by attempting the action directly or by a broad ability to imitate many behaviors.

Planned ignoring is the idea here. The caregiver withholds attention when the daughter cries, turning away so crying stops being reinforced. Once the crying ceases, interaction resumes. This uses extinction for attention-maintained behavior: crying no longer yields the desired outcome, so the behavior is likely to decrease over time. It’s not a time-out from the environment or a cost imposed for crying, but a deliberate withholding of reinforcement (attention) while the child remains present, with reinforcement returned only after the undesired behavior stops.

Time-out procedures differentiate by whether the learner stays in the setting or is removed from it. In nonexclusion time-out, the learner remains in the instructional area and is temporarily unable to access reinforcement. The disruption is managed within the room, often by limiting access to preferred activities or using a cue, but the student stays in view with the rest of the environment unchanged. In exclusion time-out, the learner is removed from the instructional area to a different, less reinforcing location for the duration of the time-out. So the statement that nonexclusion time-out keeps the learner in the instructional area while exclusion time-out removes them is true. For example, a nonexclusion time-out might involve the student staying in the room but not participating in activities for a short period, whereas an exclusion time-out would involve sending the student to another room or area away from the group.