Ask anyone with a dog and they’ll surely admit to using incentives, such as a treat, to teach their dog tricks. You raise your dog’s paw, say “shake,” and perform an overexaggerated shake motion, before showering your dog with over-the-top praise and a treat. After doing this repeatedly for a few months, you realize your dog will now shake your hand even if treats aren’t provided. Learning a new behavior in this way can be explained by continuous reinforcement. Show Continuous reinforcement is the repeated reinforcement of a behavior every time it happens. This can involve positive (adding a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus) reinforcement, with the goal of encouraging certain actions. Continuous reinforcement is one of two foundational types of reinforcement schedules. It is most effective when used in the initial stages of learning to implement a strong association between a certain behavior and its consequences.1 The second schedule, partial reinforcement, reinforces a desired behavior occasionally. This schedule can be predictable or unpredictable. When reinforcement occurs every single time a desired behavior is displayed, associations can be easily made, enabling one to learn quickly. However, in some cases there is a limit to the benefits of continuous reinforcement. Your dog might be less likely to shake your hand when they’ve had too much to eat. Extinction of the learned behavior can materialize quickly when the reinforcement stops.2 Early use of the word “reinforcement” can be traced back to the early 1900s, when Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, vaguely explored its impact on strengthening conditioning. Unlike today’s definition, Pavlov used the word to describe strengthening the association of an unconditioned and conditioned stimulus when they are presented together. Pavlov went on to discover classical conditioning, a type of learning which involves continuous reinforcement.4 Studies done by Edward Thorndike in the early 1900s also hinted at the idea of reinforcement. Thorndike developed the Law of Effect after running an experiment which involved placing hungry cats in a puzzle box and observing their attempts to find a food reward. Thorndike realized the cats would eventually learn to repeat efficient behaviors that allowed them to escape faster.5 Thorndike’s Law of Effect states that organisms are more likely to repeat a behavior if it is followed by a pleasant consequence, while organisms are less likely to repeat a behavior if it is followed by an unpleasant consequence. Thorndike’s findings contributed to the development of behaviorism and operant conditioning. American psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner took the ideas of Thorndike and Pavlov further by investigating reinforcement and its role in operant conditioning. In his 1938 book, The Behavior of Organisms, Skinner explained that reinforcement, such as verbal praise, after displaying a certain behavior can increase the likelihood of the behavior being repeated in the future. Building on his ideas, Skinner recognized behavior tends to be reinforced multiple times. Together with American psychologist Charles Ferster, further analysis was performed to investigate the ways in which one could arrange reinforcement over time. This led to the formal articulation of continuous reinforcement in their 1957 book, Schedules of Reinforcement. Skinner and Fester’s influential publication outlined two types of reinforcement schedules: continuous and partial reinforcement. The authors further outlined four schedules of partial reinforcement: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval and variable-interval schedules.6 Today, Skinner and Chester’s schedules of reinforcement remain relevant, with important implications in fields such as education, management and marketing. Continuous reinforcement has important implications in human learning, language development, and moral development.3 In human learning, continuous reinforcement has contributed to the development of the token economy. A token economy is a system which relies on tokens that continuously reinforce certain behaviors. These tokens can then be redeemed for rewards, or other reinforcers. Due to its rapid effects, this system has been applied to children and psychiatric patients.10 Informal variations of the token economy are commonly used by parents to get children to follow certain rules, whether it is making their bed every morning, refraining from stealing their sibling’s food, or saying thank you to the bus driver. To create an engaging token economy, parents identify a handful of these behaviors to reward. Physically handing a child a token, coin, or sticker every time this behavior is performed creates an immediate tangible effect, a form of continuous reinforcement. After a certain number of tokens are collected by the child, they can be redeemed for rewards such as being able to choose dinner or staying up late.10 Continuous reinforcement also has beneficial effects in shaping skill performance and extinguishing unwanted behaviors in an educational environment. Students who display suboptimal behaviors, such as being late or distracting in class, can be addressed by being ignored by the teacher, rather than being reinforced by attracting the teacher’s attention.10 In our everyday lives, continuous reinforcement does not appear as often as partial reinforcement. Imagine receiving a reward for showing up at work everyday. The reward eventually loses its appeal, and rather than being a satisfactory reward, the loss of the reward can become a larger negative reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement appears less often as it requires more effort to systematically maintain, which can be unrealistic in the long run.2 Continuous reinforcement also appears less frequently as it contains shortcomings which are better addressed by other schedules of reinforcement. Most importantly, research has shown that continuous reinforcement results in subjects responding slower to rewards, compared to when partial reinforcement schedules are used. Continuous reinforcement also has a high rate of extinction. Stopping this reinforcement schedule results in the response disappearing faster than when a partial reinforcement schedule is stopped. This is because the subject gives up when they realize they no longer receive a reward.2 Though continuous reinforcement has its short-term benefits, many prefer the slow rate of extinction in partial reinforcement schedules when teaching behaviors in the long run. Partial reinforcement schedules are less predictable and more realistic to maintain, providing a much more engaging process for a longer period of time.2 Which schedule of reinforcement tends to get the highest response rate?Fixed Ratio Schedule
In operant conditioning, a fixed-ratio schedule reinforces behavior after a specified number of correct responses. This kind of schedule results in high, steady rates of responding.
Which reinforcement schedule will result in the fastest initial acquisition of a behaviour?When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called continuous reinforcement . This reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior.
Which schedule of reinforcement is most effective quizlet?A fixed ratio schedule produces a high rate of response. People tend to work quickly with a fixed ratio because they receive reinforcement upon completion othe requirements.
Which of the following is an example of a continuous schedule of reinforcement?Continuous reinforcement requires the subject to receive positive rewards for behavior every time the behavior is exhibited. Example: Every time a child remembers to raise their hand in class, the teacher gives them a sticker. Partial reinforcement is when the subject receives rewards for behavior some of the time.
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