According to the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development by SpringerLink, the definition of extinction burst is as follows:
“Extinction burst refers to the phenomenon of a previously reinforced or learned behavior temporarily increasing when the reinforcement for the behavior is removed. Learning theory suggests the organism is increasing the frequency of the behavior in an attempt to regain the original reinforcement for the behavior. In the absence of additional reinforcement, the behavior will diminish to lower (pre-extinction burst) levels and eventual cessation.”
Have you ever tried to quit sugar, carbs, caffeine or nicotine? Removing unwanted behaviors (or adding new positive behaviors) seems to always result in what I call “the clapback”. You decide to quit sugar, two days later you’re dreaming about an ice cream sundae. You decide to quit carbs, and all of a sudden you can smell bread within a 4 mile radius. You try to quit caffeine or nicotine, and all your mind can think about is the coffee or vape (yes, we’re almost at the point in history where “vape” has replaced “cigarette”) you so desperately desire. This, my friends, is called extinction burst, and it’s one of the most fascinating things I’ve learned recently.
I can’t take credit for this one - my roommate enlightened me in one of our weekly “existential brain dumps”. Originally a concept in child psychology, extinction burst describes the reaction of a child when the parent attempts to change the child’s previously existing behavior. For instance, if a child exhibits inappropriate bedtime behaviors (in this instance, let’s say the child always eats a sweet before bed), it will throw a tantrum if the parents remove the stimulus for that behavior (i.e. the sweet). Interestingly, it’s that tantrum that signifies the behavioral alteration is working. Things get worse before they get better, and that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
Let’s take this concept beyond child psychology and apply it to life as a whole. For starters, I am personally experiencing this (very intensely) in my own life. I’ve made a commitment to myself to do a “Murph” and write an article for 100 days straight. No breaks, no days off, and HOLY S***! The resistance is in full force. Physically, my body feels like it’s breaking down - I’m 11 days in and getting all kinds of wacky physical responses. The worst kinds of thoughts come to my mind when I’m in this state, i.e. “I’m going to have a heart attack,” “I’m going to give myself cancer,” “I’m going to have a stroke,” and so on and so forth. The physical and mental anguish that’s already coming up is more severe than I anticipated, but it’s all going according to plan - this is extinction burst. My body isn’t used to doing this much work - it’s more accustomed to laying in bed after a long day than doing 200 pushups (and a lot of other things). It’s having a tantrum (don’t worry, I’ve done enough research to know that this is just a phase when doing extended activity like this, and I should be leveling out by day 30).
My writing process has been somewhat similar. My entire life, I’ve primarily been a consumer (reading, watching movies, etc.). So when I flipped the switch and became a daily producer…cue another tantrum. I especially find that when I’m writing late at night, the thoughts sneak into my head to “take a break…watch a movie…watch some porn…just relax.” I continue to say no to those thoughts and plug away, but it’s the same concept - I’m introducing a brand new behavior into my life, and my subconscious does not like it.
That’s the thing I’ve learned through this process - the subconscious operates like a child (again, can’t take credit for this one - thanks Frank). Whenever we make a change that seriously disrupts the status quo, our subconscious does everything that it can to return to its previous idea of equilibrium. It kicks, it screams, it whines and it cries. We tend to label this as “bad”, but it’s exactly what’s supposed to happen. Everything get’s easier from there, as shown by the nifty little graph below:
This graph was built from a study of child tantrums, but let’s apply it to you. Your life (baseline - before extinction procedure) is the graph on the left side - chugging along, but you’re engaging in behaviors you don’t want to be engaging in (in this case, you’re “scream length” is 6 minutes). You decide to do something about it - the graph on the right side - and “Bam!”…extinction burst hits you straight in the face. You’re now screaming for a whole 10 minutes. Give it just a few days, though, and not only has your scream length gone down, it no longer exists. The habit has been broken and a new behavior has formed.
I understand that nothing about this is novel. We all know how difficult it can be to quit a bad habit or engage in a new endeavor; however, this gives a “face to the name”. There is immense power in labeling our emotions and experiences, and now we have the opportunity to do so. The next time you quit your vice of choice and are on the verge of relapse, or you hit a wall in your new business, think to yourself, “This is extinction burst.” It’s all a part of the process, and it’s a necessary step in any successful evolution.
P.S. It is not lost on me that this could be a god-level attack move in Dragonball Z…
“Extinctionnnn Buuuursttttttt!!!!”