Watch the below video, or alternatively, read the transcript, then move on to Consolidation Exercise 1.
When we talked about reinforcement, we talked about it as a consequence for a behaviour, that increases the frequency of that behaviour in the future.
But what happens when that behaviour stops being reinforced?
Extinction
Extinction occurs when a behaviour that had been reinforced for a period of time is no longer reinforced, and therefore the behaviour reduces and stops occurring.
Let?s look at the example of mother called Marie. She has a daughter called Tammy. When Marie asks Tammy to tidy her room, Tammy curses and swears at her mother. Marie has a long history of removing the demand when Tammy engages in these behaviours that challenge. This means that Tammy?s behaviour has been negatively reinforced by the removal of an aversive stimulus (i.e. the demand to tidy her room).
One day, Marie decides to be more firm. She does not back down and go away when Tammy uses curses and swears. She maintains the demand. Over the next week, Tammy?s behaviours that challenge decrease. This is because they are no longer being reinforced.
This is an example of extinction in action.
Let?s another example, Karla is a woman with autism who moves out of her family home and into a group home.
When she lived at home, she was used to receiving lots of attention and interactions with her mother and siblings. She would sign to them when she wanted attention, needed assistance or just wanted to chat. Her housemates in the group home do not understand sign language. They do no reinforce her behaviour when she signs for attention or comments on events. The care staff in the group home are often distracted and do not notice when Karla signs to them. Over time, her signing decreases and eventually stops.
In this scenario, Karla?s signing, which had a history of being reinforced, is no longer being reinforced. When a behaviour like this stops being reinforced, we can expect extinction to occur.
Summary
From these two scenarios, you can see how the principle of extinction operates in everyday life. In future modules and lessons, we?ll look at how we can incorporate our understanding of extinction to improve clients? quality of life. However, for now, you just need to focus on the principle.
Remember, when a person?s environment stops providing reinforcement for a behaviour that used to be reinforced, the behaviour will decrease and we say that extinction has occurred.