Final answer:
Partial reinforcement schedules can maintain behavior over long periods of time even when the behavior goes unreinforced.
Step-by-step explanation:
Partial reinforcement schedules can maintain behavior over long periods of time even when the behavior goes unreinforced. This statement is true.
In partial reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior. For example, a variable ratio reinforcement schedule is when the number of responses needed for a reward varies. This is the most powerful partial reinforcement schedule and can keep behavior persistent even without reinforcement.
For instance, Skinner used positive reinforcement to teach rats to press a lever in a Skinner box. The rats were rewarded with a pellet of food each time they hit the lever. However, if the reward was given only intermittently (i.e., through partial reinforcement), the rats continued hitting the lever even when the food pellets were no longer given.