Casinos maximize the amount of money that people are willing to put into slot machines by making sure that the slot machines pay out jackpots on a reinforcement schedule that is the most resistant to behavior extinction. These machines use which reinforcement schedule?

In psychology and operant conditioning, the learning of a behavior takes place thanks to reinforcements which is a stimulus that increases the probability of the occurrence of the behavior.

The reinforcements can be presented in numerous ways and forms in time. One of these schedules of reinforcement is the variable ratio schedule, in which the response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.

Since people do not know when they will be rewarded, this create a more persistent behavior and one that is difficult to extinct.

Casinos use this type of reinforcement in slot machines, making the person win after different number of responses and therefore, the person who is gambling keeps doing it in hopes that the next time he will get the jackpot.