Reinforcement 101 Practice Test 2025 – The All-in-One Guide to Mastering Your Exam!

The correct answer is based on the two main types of reinforcement schedules used in behavioral psychology: continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement.

Continuous reinforcement involves providing a reward every time a desired behavior occurs. This schedule is particularly effective in establishing a new behavior, as it provides immediate feedback and strengthens the association between the behavior and the reward.

On the other hand, partial reinforcement involves giving rewards only some of the time a desired behavior occurs. This can be further categorized into fixed and variable schedules (e.g., fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules). Partial reinforcement is important for maintaining behaviors over the long term and helps to create persistence, as the individual may continue engaging in the behavior in hopes of receiving the reward, even when it is not guaranteed.

The other options present different concepts that are related to reinforcement, but do not categorize reinforcement schedules in the same way. Immediate and delayed reinforcement refer to the timing of the reward in relation to the behavior, while intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement differentiate between internal versus external motivators. Positive and negative reinforcement describe the nature of the reinforcer (adding a pleasant stimulus or removing an aversive stimulus) but do not classify the schedules themselves. Understanding these distinctions is key in