Final answer:
Brad is experiencing an extinction burst, where his baby's crying is temporarily intensifying as he tries to teach her to sleep through the night without reinforcement.
Step-by-step explanation:
Brad's situation, where he tries to teach his baby to sleep through the night by letting her cry, but then goes to pick her up after 2 hours due to the distress it causes him, illustrates the concept of extinction burst. An extinction burst occurs when a behavior temporarily increases in frequency, intensity, or duration when the reinforcement for the previously trained behavior is removed. In this case, the baby's crying is getting longer because the initial intermittent reinforcement (Brad picking up the baby after she cries for a long time) makes the behavior more resilient to extinction. Thus, the baby learns that by crying longer, there's a chance of receiving attention, which reinforces the crying behavior. This process is a key component in understanding the dynamics of operant conditioning and the challenges that can arise when trying to modify behavior.