ABSTRACT
A schedule of reinforcement describes the conditions under which a reinforcer is produced. Such contingencies are central to the understanding of behavior regulation in humans and other animals. The research on schedules and performance patterns is a major component of the science of behavior, a science that progressively builds on previous experiments and theoretical analysis. Schedules of reinforcement have main, or direct effects (the actual behavioral contingencies of the reinforcement schedule) and the characteristic side-effect behavior patterns that are not necessary for reinforcement, but occur regardless. These side effects are best observed with cumulative records. Intermittent reinforcement is ubiquitous and plays a role in most human behavior, especially social interaction. In this chapter, we describe main effects and side effect patterning of continuous reinforcement. In addition, we describe main and side-effect patterning of the four basic schedules of reinforcement: fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, and variable interval. These descriptions include postreinforcement (or preratio) pausing, resistance to extinction, and molar vs. molecular accounts of patterning. Transition states between schedules play an important role in human behavior—as in the shift in the reinforcement contingencies from childhood to adolescence or the change in schedules from employment to retirement.
