What is the term used by behaviorist to describe the gradual forming of an association between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus?

When it comes to extinction, most people connect it with the complete disappearance of dinosaurs or endangered species such as the wild water buffalos. In psychology, extinction carries a similar meaning to learned behavior.

What is Extinction (Psychology)

Extinction in psychology refers to the fading and disappearance of behavior that was previously learned by association with another event. That means a conditioned response is weakened and the target behavior eventually stops and becomes extinct. This is usually accomplished by withdrawing the unconditioned stimulus.

Examples of Extinction

1. Mom stops buying candies to extinct a toddler’s tantrums.

A toddler previously learned that throwing a tantrum at the grocery store will get him candies. When Mom stops giving in to those fits, the child throws fewer and fewer tantrums and stops altogether eventually. The learned tantrums have been extinct.

2. A dog owner stops rewarding the dog with treats to extinct its jumping.

A dog previously learned that jumping up onto its owner will result in receiving a treat. When the owner stops giving treats to the jumping, the dog eventually stops.

3. A teacher stops giving a disruptive student negative attention to extinct his unruly behavior.

A student previously learned that disrupting the class will earn him extra attention from the teacher. When the teacher stops giving the negative attention to him, he stops the disruptive behavior.

Extinction in Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning occurs when an association is formed between a biologically significant natural stimulus and a neutral stimulus to cause an involuntary response. 

The natural stimulus is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because it doesn’t require any conditioning to cause the reaction. The neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS), and the involuntary response becomes a conditioned response (CR).

The case of Pavlov’s dogs is the most famous example. Ivan Pavlov rang a bell every time he fed his dogs. Eventually, they began to salivate every time they heard the sound, whether or not they received food. The natural salivation became a conditioned response.

In classical conditioning, extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is applied repeatedly without being paired with the unconditioned stimulus. Over time, the learned behavior occurs less often and eventually stops altogether, and conditioned stimulus returns to neural.

In the example of Pavlov’s dogs, after Pavlov subsequently rang the bell many times without bringing food, the dogs gradually stopped salivating at the sound.

Extinction in Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning refers to associating a natural stimulus (unconditioned stimulus) with reinforcement or punishment (conditioned stimulus) to change a voluntary behavior (conditioned response).

Operant extinction refers to the weakening and eventual stop of the voluntary, conditioned response. 

For example, a child associates the sound of a microwave with her favorite snack, and she rushes into the kitchen. But after dad uses the microwave several times without making the snack, she gradually stops.

The Road to Extinction Can Be Bumpy

The extinction process takes time. And it is not always straightforward or “clean-cut.”

An extinction burst is a temporary increase in frequency, duration, or magnitude of the conditioned behavior during the extinction process. During this period, the extinct behavior repeats more in an attempt to bring back the unconditioned stimulus.

For instance, a parent may try to use differential attention or differential reinforcement – increase attention for good behavior and no attention for bad behavior – to extinct a child’s challenging behavior. However, the child may act up more to try to get back the parents’ attention​1​.

Extinct Behavior May Come Back After Extinction

Extinction doesn’t mean the behavior is gone forever. Spontaneous recovery is the sudden return of the previously extinct behavior.

Extinction burst can also turn into extinction-induced aggression when the individual increases the extinct behavior or uses a different undesired behavior aggressively to try to get back the lost reinforcement​2​.

What Influences Resistance to Extinction

The schedules of reinforcement play a significant role in how resistant a learned behavior is to extinction. A continuous schedule reinforces the conditioned response every time while a partial schedule reinforces only some of the times.

Behavior acquired under partial reinforcement schedule is more resistant to extinction than action acquired under continuous reinforcement. This phenomenon is called the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect (PREE)​3​.

One good illustration of the resistance to extinction property is gambling. Gambling addiction, especially slot machine addiction, is notoriously hard to extinct. When gambling, a gambler wins some of the time, but not all of the time. This partial reinforcement significantly increases the resistance to addiction extinction​4​.

Another factor that influences extinction is context. Context refers to anything in the environment. It could be scenery, location, or presence of other objects.

Let’s say a target behavior is acquired in context A and the extinction process carries out in the same context. After extinction completes, meaning an individual doesn’t react to the conditioned stimulus anymore, presenting the conditioned stimulus in another environment may result in the spontaneous recovery of the extinct behavior​5​.

One way to improve the success of extinction is to perform it in multiple contexts, which increases the chance that cues present at extinction will be present in different settings​6​.

Extinction Doesn’t Erase Previous Learning

Because of the possibility of spontaneous recovery and dependance on context, psychologists now believe that extinction is not an unlearning process. Rather, it is a form of new learning, called extinction learning​7​.

Instead of erasing previous learning, the individual learns a new association between the conditioned stimulus and the lack of unconditioned stimulus​8​.

Final Words on Extinction in Psychology

Extinction is a complicated process in which behavioral and neurological responses are linked tightly together. It is not a process that we have a complete understanding. Scientists are still uncovering the different components at play.

The difficulty in extinguishing an undesired behavior in their children can be frustrating for parents. But before jumping to the “my child is stubborn” or “I have a strong-willed child” conclusion, apply the extinction process consistently in different settings. Patience and practice can pay off.

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