A reinforcement schedule is rule that specifies the timing and frequency of reinforcement for a particular activity.

There are two major types of reinforcement schedules:

Continuous Reinforcement Schedules

A continuous reinforcement schedule is one that provides reinforcement after every correct response. Continuous schedules are useful for the teaching of new behaviors, when the goal is to emphasize the relationship between a discriminative stimulus and an associated response. The continual feedback of this schedule helps to cement that relationship.

Partial Reinforcement Schedules

A partial reinforcement schedule is one in which only some instances of the desired response are reinforced. Partial schedules often produce more responses and at a faster rate than do continuous schedules. Behaviors reinforced through partial schedules also have greater resistance to extinction, as the child has become accustomed to periods of time when he is not being reinforced for that behavior. Partial reinforcement schedules are useful for maintenance of learned behaviors, for increasing the production of those behaviors once they have been learned, and for making reinforcement more natural (seldom in the natural environment is one reinforced every time he exhibits a desirable behavior).

Partial reinforcement schedules are based either on intervals (the time between presentation of reinforcement) or ratios (the comparison of reinforced behaviors to non-reinforced behaviors) and the ratios and intervals can be either fixed or variable.

Fixed interval schedules reinforce an individual after a fixed amount of time. Fixed interval schedules typically produce a stair-stepped pattern of behavior, that is, after the presentation of reinforcement the production of responses levels off until just before the time for the next presentation, when the level of behavior increases rapidly, then levels off again, and so on. As an imperfect example, when students are sitting in a less-than-exciting lecture which then know will be an hour long, they may at first check the clock only every five or ten minutes. But as then end of the hour gets closer and closer, their clock checking behavior increases and increases.

Variable interval schedules reinforce an individual after a random and unpredictable amount of time. Variable interval schedules produce regular responses but not at a particularly high rate. As an example, if someone were to dial a friend's number with a burning question only to find it busy, he would likely call back regularly but only every few minutes not every few seconds (because he would know that it was not the number of times he has tried to call, but rather the length of time of the other conversation his friend was having that was determining when he would be rewarded for his efforts).

Fixed ratio schedules reinforce an individual after a fixed number of correct responses. Fixed ratio schedules produce a stair-stepped pattern similar to a fixed interval schedule, only with a high rate of behavior production. As an example, if an assembly-line worker were to be given a bonus for each 1000 items he assembled, he would work fairly quickly to the first thousand, slow production and relax for a bit, then start working harder and harder until then next thousand, and so on.

Variable ratio schedules reinforce an individual after a fixed number of correct responses. Variable ratio schedules produce a steady pattern of behavior at a high rate. Slot machines are the classic example of a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, they pay off after a random and unpredictable number of pulls.

The next section is a look at addressing challenging behaviors.

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