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🦖 Dying out 🛑 Stopping activity 💡 Weakening of light 🧠 Disappearance of behavior
extinction

extinction

1 8.0
A learned response slowly disappearing when the reward stops
  • noun
  • /ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : extinción
  • Psychologists study extinction to understand how behaviors can diminish over time when reinforcement is absent.
  • extinction of conditioned responses
  • extinction procedure
  • extinction of avoidance

It's usually followed by what we call the extinction effect.

Examples

  • The biologist Robert Pyle (1993) referred to this decline in contact with nature as an "extinction of experience."

    Academic text (2005)

  • The extinction of pain behaviors can be accomplished by not responding in a reinforcing way when they occur.

    Academic text (1997)

  • It's usually followed by what we call the extinction effect.

    Dr. Phil

  • An extinction procedure was implemented by attempting to control the teacher's attention to disruptive behavior.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Many studies have documented the extent of local extinctions and shifts in the abundance of species in fragmented landscapes.

    Academic text (1995)

  • On the day after the criterion was met, animals underwent extinction training of 30 nonreinforced presentations of the CS.

    Academic text (1993)

  • During the last phase—extinction, 3 minutes—the infant's foot kicks were no longer reinforced.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Others have highlighted the necessity of extinction in the treatment of non-compliance (Zarcone, Iwata, Hughes, & Vollmer, 1993; Zarcone, Iwata, Mazaleski, & Smith, 1994).

    Academic text (2013)

  • When the reinforcer is removed, the gradual loss of the learned response is called extinction.

  • After repeated presentations of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus, the process of extinction occurs.

Synonyms

experimental extinction
vsextinction
  • Specialized
8.4

A learned behavior becomes weaker when the reward stops

has the same meaning but emphasizes gradual disappearance when conditioned stimulus appears without unconditioned stimulus

Compounds

angle of extinction
  • Specialized
9.9

The angle you turn a crystal so it looks darkest under polarized light

experimental extinction
  • Specialized
8.4

A learned behavior becomes weaker when the reward stops

extinction angle
  • Specialized
9.9

The angle a crystal must be turned to look darkest under polarized light

Surface Forms

extinction singular
extinctions plural

Morphology

extinction = extinct (opaque) = ex + tinct + ion

The psychological meaning is not directly derived from the base word 'extinct'.

Etymology

Extinction comes from Latin ex- 'out' and stinguere 'to put out', and it is the same root as extinguish. In psychology, extinction is the slow 'putting out' of a learned response when the reward or signal stops.