.According to a much-told story, the stu-dents in one of B. F. Skinner’s classes

Question

.According to a much-told story, the stu-dents in one of B. F. Skinner’s classes used shap-ing to get Skinner to stand in the front corner of the classroom when he lectured to the class. Let’ssay that you wanted to play a similar trick on oneof your professors. Assuming that the professormoves around the front of the classroom at leastoccasionally when he or she lectures and assum-ing that student attention in class is a reinforcerfor the professor, how would you use shaping toget your professor to stand in one corner of theclassroom while lecturing?

Explanation / Answer

One way to do so would be to confer with my classmates to raise doubts and ask questions for clarification only when the professor stands in a particular area while he/she is lecturing. This would give the impression that all of us are thoroughly engaged in the lecture. To take this a notch higher, when the professor stands in any other area, behaviors that indicate distractedness such as yawning, slouching etc. can be exhibited.

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