Extinction

"Extinction" refers to an instance when a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced. Many people think of this as “ignoring” a behavior. It is close but, again, we have to use the ABA terminology carefully. In the case of extinction, I have to no longer give reinforcement that I have given in the past. If I have consistently given a child attention when they tantrum, I could put the behavior of tantruming on extinction by no longer giving the child attention when the behavior occurs. I might look away or leave the room. You might have put someone on extinction yourself. If you used to laugh at a colleague’s bad jokes in the past but, now every time he tells his joke, you no longer laugh, hopefully you’ll be hearing less bad jokes.

In this video, the parents are being trained to teach Anton to sit at the table with a stranger. Notice how Mom does not make eye contact with Anton when he starts to tantrum and get out of his seat. She also blocks his ability to get the reinforcing food and does not communicate with him. When Anton does the behavior parents want, he is given positive reinforcement.

 

 

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