Behavioral Extinction

Name: Behavioral Extinction
Uploaded: 2025-11-02T00:06:25.000Z
Description: Decode “extinction bursts” and learn to weaken problematic behavior while avoiding common pitfalls in reinforcement cycles.

Decode “extinction bursts” and learn to weaken problematic behavior while avoiding common pitfalls in reinforcement cycles.

From the course

Woman with clipboard talking to another woman

DBT Foundational

So one aspect of learning theory that we use in DBT is called extinction. This is when we've identified that a target behavior, a problematic behavior we're trying to decrease in frequency, is likely under the control of reinforcement. And so what we need to do is actually remove the reinforcement so that pretty soon that behavior is not getting reinforced and likely will decrease in frequency. This is based on the idea that the behavior has been paired in the past with the reinforcer. There's a a bond, and so extinction is a process of weakening that bond over time. It's important to know that if you're using extinction, there is likely to be what we call an extinction burst. And this is what happens when the reinforcer is taken away. The behavior itself is likely to increase in frequency and possibly intensity to try to gain that reinforcer that it's expecting. And so, absolutely, you do not wanna reinforce during an extinction burst. If you can get over that hump, then it's likely to have really weakened the the behavior a lot. But if you accidentally jump in and, you know, provide that reinforcer, you have to start all over again. A really common method of extinction happens with children in the grocery store. If you have a kid who is asking for candy, whining about candy, and perhaps in the past you've given in, you've been embarrassed about other people in the grocery store, and so you've just given them the candy that they want. But now, you're realizing you've created a problem, and so you want to definitely extinguish that whining behavior. So what's gonna happen is your kid is gonna start whining and they're gonna ask for candy and you're gonna say, no, you're whining, no candy. Once they realize you are not reinforcing that behavior, it's likely that your kid is gonna ramp it up. Right? They're gonna whine louder, more frequently, more voraciously, and the last thing you wanna do is give them candy when they do that. Because guess what? Over time, they're likely to jump to the more voracious, the more rapid, the louder version of their whining, and now you've really set yourself up. This is actually a core part of why a lot of our clients are engaging in pretty extreme behaviors. This is what happens in an invalidating environment where smaller kind of lower level requests for help or expressions of distress are essentially ignored or not validated, not responded to in a positive way. And so our clients understandably kinda ramp things up. They get more extreme. They find new creative ways to express their distress and to get their needs met. And it's not until those are really big and really extreme that they get what they need.