Q. Schedules of reinforcement?
An additional issue is schedules of reinforcement and extinction. Extinction takes place when behaviour stops having consequences and the behaviour then finally stops occurring. For instance if a passenger learns that yelling at check-in personnel no longer gets her upgraded to first class she will probably stop that behaviour. Sometimes an individual is rewarded every time a behaviour is performed (e.g., a consumer gets a soft drink every time coins are put into a vending machine). However, it is not necessary to reward behaviour every time for learning to occur. Even if behaviour is only rewarded some of the time, the behaviour may be learned. Several different schedules of reinforcement are possible
- Fixed interval: The consumer is known a free dessert on every Tuesday when he or she eats in a particular restaurant.
- Fixed ratio: Behaviour is salaried (or punished) on every nth occasion that it is performed. (Example every tenth time a frequent shopper card is presented a free product is provided).
- Variable ratio: Each time an action is performed there is a certain percentage probability that a reward will be given. For instance every time the consumer enters the store he or she is given a lottery ticket. With every ticket there is a 20% chance of getting a free hamburger. The consumer may perhaps get a free hamburger twice in a row or he or she may go ten times without getting a hamburger even once.
Variable ratio strengthening is least vulnerable to extinction.
Sometimes shaping may be essential to teach the consumer the desired behaviour. i.e., it may be impossible to teach the consumer to directly perform the desired behaviour. For instance a consumer may first get a good product for free (the product itself if good is a reward) then buy it with large cents off coupon as well as finally buy it at full price.
Therefore we reinforce approximations of the desired behaviour. Rather than set up Coca Cola directly in Indonesia fruit flavoured soft drinks were first introduced since these were more similar to beverages already consumed.