EXAM #4-CH.9 - Behavior Modification

What is extinction?

Withholding reinforcement from a previously reinforced response. The behavior decreases because it no longer produces the reinforcer.

Usual focus of extinction in applied settings:

Focuses on behaviors that were maintained by positive reinforcement, like attention-seeking behavior.

Positively reinforcement extinction

You stop giving the reward/attention after the behavior

Negative reinforcement extinction

You stop allowing the person to escape or avoid something. This is called escape extinction.

Characteristics of Extinction

• Usually gradual, not immediate

• Extinction burst

• Spontaneous recovery

• Emotional side effects like frustration, anger, or aggression

Why use extinction?

To decrease or eliminate undesirable behavior by making sure the behavior no longer gets reinforced.

Extinction burst

An increase in responding at the beginning of extinction.
Example: A child tantrums louder when crying no longer gets them candy.

happens near the start of extinction and involves a temporary increase in behavior.

Spontaneous recovery

The temporary return of a behavior after it had decreased during extinction. The recovered behavior is usually weaker than before.

happens later, after the behavior has already decreased.

How schedules of reinforcement affect extinction

Behaviors reinforced on an intermittent schedule are more resistant to extinction. The less frequent the previous reinforcement, the harder the behavior is to extinguish.

What do we need to evaluate which reinforcer is maintaining behavior?

A functional analysis. This helps identify what reinforcer is keeping the behavior going.

Major concern with spontaneous recovery and extinction bursts:

The behavior might get accidentally reinforced, which can make the behavior harder to eliminate

Why using reinforcement with extinction helps a lot:

It reduces side effects, makes the program easier to carry out, and helps a desirable behavior replace the problem behavior.

Desensitization:

A treatment from a classical conditioning framework where a person is gradually exposed to feared stimuli while relaxed, so the fear response decreases.

gradual and paired with relaxation.

Flooding

Direct, prolonged exposure to a feared stimulus until the fear response decreases through habituation.

intense/direct exposure all at once for a sustained time.

When and how to use extinction

Use extinction when the reinforcer can be identified and controlled, when an extinction burst would not be dangerous, and when the people carrying out the plan can tolerate the process.