Estella is afraid of cats. To help her overcome her fear, her mother calmly pets and strokes a cat while Estella is watching. Her mother encourages her to imitate her behavior. Estella's mother is using

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Estella's mother is using participant modeling, which involves the observer (Estella) imitating the behavior of a model (her mother) in a safe and controlled environment to help overcome her fear. Reinforcement involves increasing the likelihood of a behavior by following it with a desirable consequence, while extinction involves decreasing the likelihood of a behavior by withholding reinforcement. A token economy is a system of reinforcing desired behaviors with tokens or points that can be exchanged for rewards. Generalization is the application of learned behavior in new situations or with different stimuli. None of these concepts accurately describe the technique used by Estella's mother.

Estella Is Afraid of Cats