Description of the Strategy

Extinction is a reductive procedure in which maintaining reinforcement is no longer delivered following a behavior that was previously reinforced. For example, consider the student who blurts out answers despite teacher requests to raise his hand and wait to be called upon. If the teacher responds to his answers or comments when the student does not wait to be called upon, then blurting out is reinforced with teacher attention. Extinction occurs when the teacher no longer responds to the blurting out (i.e., maintaining reinforcer is removed) and behavior occurrences decrease in frequency. In this example, teacher attention for talking out of turn is withheld.

The goal of extinction is to eliminate an undesirable behavior from occurring in the future. ...