Stopping behavior

Let's say we want you to stop pressing certain buttons. How could we do that? According to behaviorists, there are two basic ways: Punishment and extinction.

Punishment


Slide the cursor across the yellow button below (More specifically, slide the cursor until it turns into a hand [you may have to pause over the center of the button] then keep sliding until the hand turns into a cursor.


After you slide your cursor over the button, you will hear something designed to make you less likely to slide your cursor over the button (unless you like dentist drills, like Bill Murray's character in the musical comedy " Little shop of horrors "). If it makes you stop sliding your cursor over the button, you've been punished. If it actually makes you more likely to slide the cursor over the button again, then what we had hoped was punishment is actually positive reinforcement.

If you are a glutton, for punishment, click here. Otherwise, scroll down and learn about extinction.

Extinction

Press the button below.

Scroll down the page for more information about this button and extinction.

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Nothing happened when you pressed the button? That's right! Are you going to keep pushing the button--or have we extinguished that behavior?

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