PSYB45H3 Chapter 8-9: Textbook Chapter 8 & 9
Document Summary
Some definitions intermittent reinforcement is an arrangement in which a behavior is positively reinforced only occasionally (i. e. , intermittently) rather than every time it occurs. Response rate refers to the number of instances of a behavior that occur in a given period of time. Response rate is more commonly used when talking about schedules of reinforcement, so that is the term we use in this chapter. A schedule of reinforcement is a rule specifying which occurrences of a given behavior, if any, will be reinforced. The simplest schedule of reinforcement is continuous reinforcement (crf), which is an arrangement in which each instance of a particular response is reinforced: example: each time you turn on the tap, your behavior is reinforced by water. The opposite of crf is called operant extinction - on an extinction schedule no instance of a given behavior is reinforced. The effect is that the behavior eventually decreases to a very low level or ceases altogether.
