Chapter 13 – Getting a New Sequence of Behaviors to Occur With Behavior Chaining

Many behavior sequences that you perform in everyday life are behavioral chains. Behavior shaping, fading, and chaining are sometimes called gradual change procedures because each involves progressing gradually through series of steps to produce a new behavior (shaping), new stimulus control over a behavior (fading), or a new sequence of stimulus-response steps (chaining). For maximum effectiveness of behavioral chaining, the behavior sequence must be broken down into manageable components that are appropriate for the learner, and the proper order of the components must be maintained. For learners able to read, a written task analysis might effectively prompt them to appropriately complete behavioral chains. The point is that undesirable behaviors are frequently components of unintentionally developed behavioral chains. Behavior shaping, fading, and chaining are sometimes called gradual change procedures, because each involves progressing gradually through a series of steps to produce a new behavior (shaping), or new stimulus control over a behavior (fading), or a new sequence of stimulus-response steps (chaining).