National Counselor Exam (NCE)

The withdrawal of reinforcement until the conditioned response no longer occurs is known as:

1. Generalization

2. Extinction

3. Discrimination

4. Conditioning

The correct answer is: Extinction

The phenomenon described involves the process of removing reinforcement, which results in the gradual decline of a conditioned response. This process is known as extinction. In classical conditioning and operant conditioning, extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented without reinforcement or when the behavior is no longer followed by a reward. Over time, this leads to a decrease in the frequency of the conditioned response until it eventually stops altogether. For instance, if a dog has been trained to sit on command and rewards (reinforcement) are withdrawn, eventually the dog will stop sitting in response to the command. This reflects the essence of extinction: the learned behavior fades away due to the lack of encouraging outcomes. Other concepts, such as generalization, discrimination, and conditioning, do not pertain to the withdrawal of reinforcement. Generalization refers to the tendency for the conditioned response to occur in response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus. Discrimination involves the ability to differentiate between different stimuli and only respond to the specific conditioned one. Conditioning itself is the process of learning associations between stimuli or behaviors and their consequences. Thus, these concepts do not accurately capture the specific process of removing reinforcement leading to the cessation of a conditioned response.