Michele is completely frustrated by Felicia, her three-year old, who loves to pound on pots and pans with a wooden spoon. Michele has yelled at Felicia with no effect. A friend suggested ignoring Felicia, as perhaps Michele's attention was helping to reinforce Felicia's behavior. Michele tried her friend’s advice, but Felicia just made more noise. From an operant perspective, how would you

interpret what happened?

What will be an ideal response?


ANSWER:
?It sounds like Michele encountered an extinction burst. When Michele quit paying attention to Felicia’s loud pounding, she was no longer reinforcing her daughter’s behavior, which created an extinction schedule. Often when reinforced behavior is placed on an extinction schedule, there is a period of increased activity. Michele needs to continue with the extinction schedule until her daughter’s behavior begins to decline and be careful not to partially reinforce the behavior.

Psychology

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