Question

Give example of extinction, label the behavior being extinguish, the reinforcer that had been regularly following the behavior and the actual extinction procedure.

Answer 1

Gradual reduction and disappearance of conditioned response tendency is known as extinction. If the association of conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus stopped for a long time, then extinction occurs. For example ,if Pavlov presented only a tone without food, the learned response disappears.Another example is given below:

Let us assume that you are a dentist. In past you cringe at the sound of a dentists drill , which has been paired with pain in the past. Now you started working as a dental assistant . You start hearing the drill day in and day out with out experiencing any pain . This can diminish the cringing response gradually and lead to extinction. Here the sound of drill is the conditioned stimulus and pain is unconditioned stimulus. The association of the both stimulus results in the cringing sound. When the association with natural stimulus stops, the conditioned response also diminished and gradually extincted.