Chapter 8 Flashcards
What are the two parts to the principle of operant extinction?
The principle of operant extinction states that
(a) if an individual, in a given situation, emits a previously reinforced behavior, and that behavior is not followed by a reinforcer,
(b) then that person is less likely to do the same thing again when next encountering a similar situation.
*Is telling someone to stop eating candies and the person stops an example of operant extinction? Explain why or why not based on the definition of operant extinction.
No. An example of extinction is one in which a behavior decreases in frequency because instances of that behavior have occurred and were not followed by the reinforcer that previously maintained it. In this example, the reinforcer for eating candies is the good taste, and that reinforcer would still be there if the behavior (eating candies) occurred. Thus, the behavior (eating candies) stopped immediately because of a particular consequence (being told to stop), not because of extinction.
*Is a parent ignoring a child’s behavior an example of operant extinction? Explain why or why not based on the definition of operant extinction.
It would be extinction only if the attention of the parent was the reinforcer that was maintaining the behavior that was being ignored. However, if the child’s behavior was maintained by some other reinforcer, such as attention from another child, then ignoring the behavior by the parent would not be extinction.
Suppose that, immediately after an instance of swearing, parents remove a portion of the child’s weekly allowance and the result is that swearing decreases. Is this an example of operant extinction? Explain why or why not.
In this case, the removal of the child’s allowance contingent on swearing is referred to as response-cost punishment (both reprimands and response- cost punishment are discussed in Chapter 15). Operant extinction differs from each of these in that extinction weakens behavior as a result of being emitted without being reinforced.
What is the difference between forgetting and operant extinction?
Behavior can also decrease because of forgetting. In forgetting, a behavior is weakened as a function of time following its last occurrence. Operant extinction differs from each of these in that extinction weakens behavior as a result of being emitted without being reinforced.
Explain the difference, in terms of procedure and results, between the loss of value of a conditioned reinforcer (see Chapter 7) and the operant extinction of a positively reinforced behavior.
When a reinforcer loses value, the behavior can be reinforced by a new reinforcement. It also depends on what caused the loss of value in the reinforcer, such as satiation. The reinforcer might still be useful later. Either way, the reinforcement is still there.
Operant extinction differs in that the extinction weakens behavior as a result of being emitted without being reinforced.
If a behavior that was maintained by positive reinforcement is not reinforced at least once in a while, what will happen to the behavior?
That behavior that was positively reinforced will occur less frequently and will go back to its operant level.
Why did the mother’s attempt to extinguish the child’s cookie eating fail (refer to Figure 8.1)?
The mothers attempt to extinguish the child’s cookie eating failed because the cookie eating was not reinforced with the mother’s attention. The extinction was not taking place because the reinforcer for that specific behavior had not been removed. The actual reinforcer for the behavior must always be withheld.
It is also important during the application of extinction to ensure that the reinforcers that you are withholding are the ones that were actually maintaining the undersirable behavior. Failure to do this would not meet the definition of extinction, and the undesirable behavior would not likely decrease, as shown in Figure 8.1.
*Examine Table 8.1. Which one of those examples involved positive reinforcement for an alternative response? For those that do not, indicate how positive reinforcement for an alternative response might be introduced.
Examples 4 and 5 appear to involve positive reinforcement of an alternative response. For examples 1, 2, and 3, you should describe plausible methods for reinforcing desirable alternative behavior. In example 1, for example, the parents might have gone to the child’s bedroom and praised the child for lying quietly following a period of time.
*What is resurgence? Describe an example.
Sometimes when extinction of behavior A (e.g. yelling) is combined with reinforcement of an alternative behavior (behavior B, e.g. reading a book), and the alternative behavior (B) undergoes extinction, the original behavior (A) may re-emerge. The latter is called resurgence.
= increased responding of an extinguished operant response as a result of extinguishing another operant response
Why is it necessary to consider the setting as a factor influencing your operant extinction program?
It is important to consider the setting in which operant extinction will be carried out to (a) minimize the influence of alternative reinforcers on the undesirable behavior to be extinguished and (b) maximize the chances of the behavior modifier persisting with the program.
*Describe a particular behavior you would like to decrease in a child with whom you have contact. Would your extinction program require a special setting? Why or why not?
A behavior of a child to be decreased is that of using the spoon while sitting with food in the highchair, to throw (catapult) food around the room. Because allowing such behavior to occur, and be ignored, might be disruptive to others in the immediate vicinity, it should not be carried out in a restaurant and would require a special setting.
Define continuous reinforcement. Give an example that is not in this chapter.
Continuous reinforcement is an arrangement or schedule in which each instance of a particular response is reinforced.
Ex. Each time you turn the key in the ignition of your car, your car will start.
Define intermittent reinforcement. Give an example that is not in this chapter.
Intermittent reinforcement is an arrangement or schedule in which a response is reinforced only occasionally or intermittently rather than each time it occurs.
Before Mother decided to implement operant extinction, what happened when Sally was whining? Sometimes nothing would happen because Mother was busy with other things, such as talking on the telephone. But at other times, often a er five or six instances of whining, Mother would attend to Sally and give her what she wanted. This is typical of many reinforcement situations in that Sally’s whining was not reinforced following each instance. Rather, her whining was reinforced occasionally, following several instances of it. This is an example of intermittent reinforcement.
What is the effect of continuous versus intermittent reinforcement on the resistance to extinction of an operant behavior?
In general, behavior that has been intermittently reinforced extinguishes more slowly than behavior that has been continuously reinforced. Behavior that extinguishes slowly is said to be resistant to extinction.
