ELIMINATION OF BEHAVIOR OF MENTAL PATIENTS BY RESPONSE‐PRODUCED EXTINCTION1
- 1 July 1963
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- Vol. 6 (3) , 407-412
- https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1963.6-407
Abstract
Mental hospital patients were conditioned to respond at a high rate. Then an attempt was made to eliminate the response by means of a mild punishment consisting of a period of time-out from reinforcement (response-produced extinction). When only one response was available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was not effective in eliminating that response. When an alternative response was also made available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was completely effective. It appears that even very mild punishment may be effective if the over-all frequency of reinforcement can be maintained by means of an alternative unpunished response.Keywords
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