A 4-year-old boy interrupts his mother every time she talks on the phone. The family pediatrician recom¬mends that whenever the child interrupts her, the mother should pay no attention to him. The pediatri¬cian has recommended

In this scenario, the pediatrician has recommended extinguishing the interruptions by non reinforcement. This means that the child's interrupting behavior will no longer be reinforced or rewarded by attention from the mother and will diminish over time. Intermittent, positive, and negative reinforcement all involve re­warding a desired behavior. Although punishing the child for the interruptions will be effective initially, the results of punishment are not as long lasting as the results of extinction.