Susan trained her rat to press a bar in a Skinner box in order to get a food pellet. Susan's rat pressed the bar a lot. However, later when Susan ran out of food pellets her rat eventually stopped pressing the bar. What had happened?
A) conditioned aversion
B) satiation
C) extinction
D) withdrawal

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Extinction occurs when the previously reinforced behavior (pressing the bar) no longer leads to the desired outcome (receiving food pellets). As a result, the behavior will eventually decrease and stop. This is likely what happened in this scenario when Susan's rat no longer received food pellets for pressing the bar. Conditioned aversion refers to the development of an aversion to a previously neutral stimulus that is associated with a negative outcome, while satiation refers to the reduction in motivation to engage in a behavior due to excessive reinforcement. Withdrawal typically refers to the physical and psychological symptoms that occur when a person stops taking a drug they have become dependent on, and is not relevant in this scenario.

Susan Trained Her Rat to Press a Bar in a Skinner