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Extinction

Description of the Strategy

Extinction is a behavior modification procedure used to decrease the frequency with which a behavior occurs. The basic idea is a relatively simple one: If the reinforcer(s), positive or negative, maintaining a behavior are removed, the behavior will decrease. Extinction occurs often in daily life (e.g., a child stops pressing the buttons on a handheld video game shortly after the batteries run out) and is regularly used with-out explicit recognition (e.g., when children who reinforce each others' deviant behavior are placed in separate groups on a school field trip). In this entry we will focus on the explicit use of extinction to decrease problem behavior.

The use of extinction involves two steps. The first step is to determine the reinforcer maintaining the problem behavior. When possible, relevant functional assessment methodologies should be utilized. However, sometimes assessment of the reinforcer(s) maintaining the behavior must be done via naturalistic observation or, depending on the setting, caretaker descriptions during a clinical interview.

Once the reinforcer maintaining the problem behavior has been identified, the second step in implementing extinction is to stop the delivery of the rein-forcer. In discontinuing the relationship between the problematic response and the reinforcer, it is impor-tant to note that the behavior of the person implementing the procedure will differ, depending on whether a positive reinforcer (e.g., tantrums result in the child getting what he or she wants) or negative reinforcer (e.g., tantrums result in the removal of parental demands) is maintaining the problem behavior. Discontinuing a positive reinforcer involves withholding it (e.g., no longer acquiescing to the child's wants), while discontinuing a negative reinforcer involves failing to remove it (e.g., maintaining the demands despite the tantrum).

Research Basis

Extinction has been the focus of a great deal of nonhu-man animal research and is receiving increased attention by applied researchers. Extinction is a component in many effective behavior change interventions, offering a nonpunishment-based method for decreasing problem behavior. As mentioned earlier, extinction involves identifying and discontinuing the reinforcer maintaining the problem behavior. In practice, however, extinction is often most effective when combined with reinforcement procedures. Most commonly, extinction is coupled with reinforcement of an alternative replacement behavior (e.g., tantrums are no longer reinforced, but the child may be reinforced for politely asking for things he or she desires such as juice or snacks), reinforcement of any other behavior (e.g., tantrums are no longer reinforced, but the child earns a quarter toward purchase of a small item at the end of the shopping trip for each 5-minute period that he or she is tantrum free), or noncontingent presentation of reinforcers (e.g., self-injury no longer produces attention, but the child is given attention every 30 seconds).

Extinction weakens performance of behavior but does not completely wipe out or erase prior learning. The weakening effect of extinction is generally gradual, requiring consistent implementation and a number of nonreinforced instances of the behavior for extinction to have its effects. No new behavior is directly trained via extinction; hence its frequent use in conjunction with reinforcement-based procedures. While combining extinction and reinforcement-based procedures often expedites the decline of the problembehavior (and may help reduce some of the side effects of extinction discussed below), at times it is unclear whether the problem behavior has really been weakened or is simply not occurring because the alternative procedures have altered the opportunity or motivation to engage in the problem behavior. The concern is that the problem behavior will reoccur at the next available opportunity (e.g., when in a new setting) or when the motivational conditions change (e.g., when other reinforcers are not available). Thus, it appears important that, when possible, procedures are maintained across settings and that the alternative behaviors trained to replace those being extinguished are ones that are likely to produce consistent rein-forcement across settings.

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