Which concept describes stopping a behavior by removing reinforcement?

• A. Clicker
• B. Spontaneous Recovery
• C. Extinction
• D. Autoshaping

Answer: (C)

Extinction is the process of stopping a behavior by removing the reinforcement that previously followed it. When the consequence that maintained the behavior is no longer given, the motivation to perform that behavior drops, and it tends to occur less over time. In practice, if a dog learns to bark for attention and you stop rewarding or responding to the barking, the barking should gradually decline. You might see a brief extinction burst, where the behavior momentarily increases before it fades. This concept hinges on withholding reinforcement consistently; once reinforcement resumes, extinction can be undermined and the behavior can return. Other terms don’t fit this scenario: a clicker is simply a marker for reinforcement, spontaneous recovery is about a previously extinguished behavior reappearing after a break, and autoshaping involves forming a conditioned response through stimulus–reward pairing in a way that doesn’t describe stopping behavior by removing reinforcement.