Mattie, an extremely overweight mental patient, had a persistent and disturbing habit of stealing food from other patients.The behavior therapist assigned Mattie to a special table in the dining room.If Mattie approached any other table, she was immediately removed from the dining room.This therapist used _____ to produce extinction of Mattie's food stealing.

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Non-reinforcement was used to produce extinction of Mattie's food stealing behavior. By removing Mattie from the dining room when she approached any other table, the therapist was not providing reinforcement for her stealing behavior, which eventually led to the behavior extinguishing. Aversive conditioning involves associating unwanted behavior with unpleasant consequences, covert desensitization involves exposing the patient to feared stimuli in a gradual and controlled way, and classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with a naturally occurring stimulus to elicit a desired response. None of these were used in this scenario.

Mattie, an Extremely Overweight Mental Patient, Had a Persistent and Disturbing