Activity for the book My Psychology

My Take: 6.2 Reinforcement Schedules

View the My Take video and then answer the questions.

View the transcript (Opens in new window)

When reinforcement is received after a consistent, predictable number of occurrences, those behaviors are subject to a schedule of reinforcement.
If you have a job, you are likely to get paid on a very specific time schedule. Typically, workers get paid every 2 weeks. This is an example of a schedule of reinforcement.
Professor Lewis likes to use “pop quizzes” to make sure that her students are doing their reading before class. The students never know how many classes must pass before another pop quiz will occur. These quizzes are being used on a schedule of reinforcement.
Your Take! What kind of schedule of reinforcement do you think would produce the highest rate of responding?