What is chaining in psychology?

Chaining is a psychological method of teaching or reinforcing a skill by breaking it down into a series of smaller tasks that begin from the simplest to the most complex. Each step or link on the line acts as a cue to the next task on the line.

There are two types of chaining: forward and backward chaining. Forward chaining is where one starts from the beginning, linking up tasks to the end, while backward chaining is where one links up tasks from the end backwards to the beginning.

Forward chaining is preferred over backward chaining, but where the subject does not know the end result as a motivation, backward chaining is preferable.