Continuous reinforcement is the schedule in which every occurrence of a designated response is followed by a reinforcer. It is the simplest arrangement and the fastest way to establish a new behavior.

When a rat receives a food pellet for every lever press, or a child receives praise for every correct answer, the contingency is continuous. Acquisition is typically rapid because the relationship between action and consequence is transparent. The drawback appears when reinforcement stops. Behavior learned under continuous reinforcement extinguishes quickly once the reinforcer is withdrawn; the organism soon discovers that responding no longer pays.

For that reason continuous reinforcement is usually a temporary stage. Once the behavior is reliable, trainers shift to intermittent schedules that maintain responding with fewer reinforcers and produce greater resistance to extinction. In everyday life, continuous reinforcement is rare outside of deliberate training situations; most natural consequences arrive only some of the time.

Continuous reinforcement teaches the behavior. Intermittent reinforcement keeps it going.