PSY 3103 Lecture 7: Schedules

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 3103
• Professor: Catherine Plowright

Document Summary

Schedules of reinforcement: is a rule that determine how often and under what conditions a response will be reinforced. Reinforcement always depends on the occurrence of a response. It can also be dependent on the number of prior responses or time before response (ratio vs. interval). Different schedules generate different behavioural patterns: partial reinforcement: only some of the responses are reinforced. However, the number of reinforcers are accumulated over time to produce and effect: ratio schedules: reinforcement is dependent on the number of responses the organism has performed. The ratio is the number of responses per enforcer. Employers think that this is a great method of paying because workers are rewarded for producing at a faster rate. In real life, wait times are variable waiting for an egg to cook will not vary on the amount of times you check the egg, but will become a reward after a given amount of time.