The First Step

The first step in any new adventure is an important one. As Lao Tzu is quoted as stating:"The journey of a thousand miles must being with a single step".

Currently, my students in the learning seminar are reading "Science and Human Behavior" by B. F. Skinner. What I love about this is that they get to discover his writings anew, and I get to refresh my reading and understanding of his work.

This week we are reading about shaping. Shaping involves changing some aspect of a behavior: The frequency, duration, or perhaps form of the response. Just as an artist weaves color into fabric, or a potter creates something out of a lump of clay, so too does any shaping process start with a step. That first response is reinforced, and then closer and closer approximations are reinforced until the final stage. At that final stage, we see what appears to be a new form, but it really only rests on the shoulders of what came before.

All of that being said, what comes before is just as important as what comes next.