Operant Extinction

 The principle of operant extinction states that (a) if an individual, in a given

situation, emits a previ- ously 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.
 Respondent extinction is a decrease in a conditioned response due to a CS no
longer being followed by a US, whereas, extpinction is a decrease in an operant
response due to it no longer being reinforced.
 Behavior can also decrease because of forgetting. In forgetting, a behavior is
weakened as a function of time following its last occurrence.

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Operant Extinction

 Control of reinforcers for the behaviour that is to be decreased
o Reinforcers presented by other people or by the physical environment can
undo your good efforts at applying operant extinction.
o 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 undesirable behavior. Failure to do this would not meet the
definition of extinction, and the undesirable behavior would not likely
decrease
 Combining extinction with positive reinforcement for an alternative behavior
o The combination of the two procedures probably decreased the fre- quency
of the undesirable behavior much faster (and possibly to a lower level) than
would have been the case had the extinction procedure been used alone.
 The setting in which extinction is carried out
o One reason for changing the setting in which operant extinction is carried
out is to minimize the possibility that other people will reinforce the
behavior you are trying to decrease.
o It may be socially difficult or even impossible to carry out operant
extinction in certain situations. Example: controlling the child at a
department store.
o 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.
 Instructions or Rules
o It would help speed up the decrease in behavior if the per- son is initially
told something like this: “If you do X [the undesirable behavior], then Y
[the reinforcing item] will no longer occur.”

 The Schedule of Reinforcement before extinction is carried out

o Continuous reinforcement is an arrangement or schedule in which each
instance of a particular response is reinforced. Intermittent reinforcement
 is an arrangement or schedule in which a response is reinforced only
occasionally (i.e., intermittently) rather than each time it occurs.
o Behavior that extinguishes slowly is said to be resistant to extinction.
 Behaviour Being Extinguished may get worse before it gets better
o During operant extinction, behavior may increase before it begins to
decrease.
o An increase in responding during extinction is commonly referred to as an
extinction burst.
o Most of us have learned that if something is no longer paying off, a slight
increase in the behavior may be sufficient to again bring the payoff.
o Alternatively, if you predict that an extinction burst might cause harm, then
don’t use extinction.
 Extinction may produce aggression that interferes with the program
o The reappearance of an extinguished behavior following a break is called
spontaneous recovery.
o Typically, the amount of behavior that recovers spontaneously follow- ing a
break is less than the amount that occurred during the previous extinction
session. After several additional extinction sessions, spontaneous recovery
is usually not a problem.
Guidelines for the Effective Application of Operant extinction
 Selecting the behaviour to be decreased
 Preliminary considerations
 Implementing the plan
 Weaning the student out of the program

Shaping
 Shaping can be defined as the development of a new operant behavior by the
reinforcement of successive approxi- mations of that behavior and the extinction
of earlier approximations of that behavior until the new behavior occurs.
 Shaping is sometimes referred to as the method of successive approximations.
 There are five aspects or dimensions of behavior that can be shaped. These are
topography, frequency, duration, latency, and intensity (or force).
 Topography is the spatial configuration or form of a particular response (i.e., the
specific movements involved).
 The frequency of a behavior is the number of instances that occur in a given period
of time.
 The duration of a response is the length of time that it lasts.
 Latency is the time between the occurrence of a stimulus and the response evoked
by that stimulus.
 The intensity or force of a response refers to the physical effect the response has or
potentially has on the environment.
Factors influencing the effectiveness of shaping

 Specifying the Final Target Behaviour

o A precise statement of the final target behavior increases the chances for
consistent reinforcement of successive approximations of that behavior.
o The final target behavior should be stated in such a way that all of the
relevant characteristics of the behavior (its topography, duration, frequency,
latency, and intensity) are identified.
o In addition, the conditions under which the behavior is or is not to occur
should be stated, and any other guidelines that appear to be necessary for
consistency should be provided.
 Choosing the Starting behavior
o Starting behavior should be a behavior that occurs often enough to be
reinforced within the session time, and it should approximate the final
target behavior.
o The purpose of the shaping pro- gram is to get from one to the other by
reinforcing successive approximations from the starting behavior to the
final target behavior even though they might be very dissimilar.
 Choosing the Shaping Steps
o In attempting to specify the behavioral steps from the starting behavior to
the final target behavior, behavior modifiers might imagine what steps they
would go through.
o Whatever guidelines or guesses are used, it is important to try to stick to
them yet be flexible if the trainee does not proceed quickly enough or is
learning more quickly than had been expected.
 Pace of Movement through the shaping steps
o The behavior modifier should observe the behav- ior carefully and be
prepared to make changes in the procedure—changing the size of the steps,
slowing down, speeding up, or retracing steps—whenever the behavior
does not seem to be developing properly.
o Shaping requires a good deal of practice and skill if it is to be performed
with maximum effectiveness.