Social psychology

Extinction (optical mineralogy)

Developmental psychology

Operant conditioning

Physics

Psychology

Optics

Psychotherapist

Generality

Medicine

Audiology

Reinforcement

Psychonomic Science

Two experiments in a free-operant situation tested the generality of Lawrence & Festinger’s (1962) hypothesis that the total number of nonreinforced trials, not percentage of reward, is the critical variable in determining resistance to extinction. This was supported by Experiment 1. However, when rate of responding was held constant in Experiment 2 the hypothesis was not supported. The results suggest that S’s with faster rates of responding in acquisition make more responses in extinction indicating an energizing effect of non-reinforcement.

Unrewarded trials and resistance to extinction of a bar-pressing response