RBT Task List Practice Test

Partial reinforcement means a behavior is reinforced only on some occasions, not every time. This pattern teaches that rewards aren’t guaranteed, so the behavior tends to persist longer once reinforcement stops—a phenomenon known as the partial reinforcement extinction effect. Because reinforcement is not predictable, the organism keeps responding longer before giving up, making the behavior more resistant to extinction than it would be under continuous reinforcement. In the question, reinforcement after only some instances fits this idea, which is why it leads to greater resistance to extinction. Continuous reinforcement, by contrast, would make extinction happen quickly when rewards stop. The interval schedules are time-based forms of intermittent reinforcement, but the key point is that reinforcement isn’t given for every occurrence.