Question

if a parent tries to teach a child to brush their teeth by physically guiding the child's hand, and if over successive trials the physical guidance is gradually lessened to the point where the child will be able to brush their teeth without any help whatsoever, the parent is using:

Answer 1

The parent is using a psychological method called shaping, which is a technique in operant conditioning that reinforces successive steps towards learning a desired behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a parent teaches a child how to brush their teeth by gradually reducing physical guidance until the child can perform the task independently, they are utilizing a method called shaping. Shaping is a technique within operant conditioning, a concept in psychology where behaviors are learned through the reinforcement of successive approximations of the desired behavior. In this case, the parent is reinforcing the child's steps toward the goal of brushing teeth independently, starting with more hands-on guidance and slowly transitioning to less and less assistance until the child has integrated the behavior of tooth brushing into their daily routine.