Question

Schedules of reinforcement and examples

Answer 1

Schedules of reinforcement are described as under:

1. Continuous Reinforcement Schedules - In this type of reinforcement schedule, a particular behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs. For example, giving a child candy every time she recites a poem correctly.

2. Partial Reinforcement Schedules - Here, the response is reinforced only part of the time. There are four schedules of partial reinforcement:

a. Fixed-ratio schedules are those where a response is reinforced only after an organism has engaged in a specified number of responses. An example would be getting points in a game only after 10 moves against an opponent have performed correctly.

b. Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. Gambling and lottery games are examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.

c. Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. An example would be going for a vacation after every six months.

d. Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. For example, surprise quizzes being conducted in school.