RBT® Behavior Reduction practice quiz

Updated 2026-11-05

Behavior Reduction is domain D of the 2026 RBT® exam. It has 14 of the 75 scored questions, about 19% of the exam. It is also the domain with the most look-alike procedures, so the 15 confusable-pairs items below matter as much as the 20-question quiz. Every option is explained.

What this domain covers

Domain D has seven tasks (D.1 to D.7). The exam asks whether you can:

  • Identify the common functions of behavior: attention, escape or avoidance, access to tangibles, and automatic (sensory) reinforcement.
  • Implement antecedent interventions: noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), high-probability request sequences, demand fading.
  • Implement differential reinforcement: DRO, DRA, DRI, DRL, and functional communication training (FCT).
  • Implement extinction procedures matched to the function.
  • Implement positive and negative punishment procedures, such as time-out, as written in the plan.
  • Describe the secondary effects of extinction (extinction burst, response variation, resurgence, emotional responding) and of punishment (emotional responses, escape and avoidance).
  • Implement crisis and emergency procedures as trained and documented.

Questions usually describe a behavior, its function, and a consequence, then ask which procedure that is or what should happen next.

The five pairs people confuse most

  1. DRA vs. DRO vs. DRI vs. DRL. DRA reinforces a specific alternative behavior. DRI reinforces a behavior that is physically incompatible with the target. DRO reinforces the absence of the target behavior for an interval; no specific behavior is required. DRL reinforces lower rates of a behavior you want less of, not gone.
  2. Extinction vs. time-out vs. response cost. Extinction withholds the reinforcer that maintained the behavior. Time-out removes access to reinforcement for a period (negative punishment). Response cost removes a specific amount of a reinforcer already earned (also negative punishment). "Ignoring" is extinction only if attention was the function.
  3. Positive vs. negative punishment. Both decrease behavior. Positive adds something after the behavior (a reprimand, overcorrection). Negative removes something (a token, access to an activity).
  4. Extinction burst vs. spontaneous recovery vs. resurgence. A burst is the temporary increase right after extinction starts. Spontaneous recovery is the behavior reappearing after a break, without any reinforcement. Resurgence is a previously reinforced behavior coming back when a newer alternative behavior stops being reinforced.
  5. NCR vs. DRO. Both deliver reinforcement on a time basis. NCR delivers it regardless of behavior, as an antecedent strategy. DRO delivers it only if the target behavior did not occur during the interval.

Also check the function match: extinction for escape-maintained behavior means following through with the demand, not ignoring. Many wrong options describe the right procedure for the wrong function.

After this quiz