Final answer:
Punishment and extinction are two different processes in operant conditioning. Punishment aims to decrease a behavior by associating it with a negative consequence, while extinction refers to the gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a behavior when reinforcement is no longer provided.
Step-by-step explanation:
In operant conditioning, punishment and extinction are two different processes.
Punishment refers to the application of an aversive stimulus or the removal of a desirable stimulus in order to decrease a behavior. It aims to decrease the frequency of a behavior by associating it with a negative consequence. For example, if a dog jumps on the sofa and gets scolded, the scolding acts as punishment, and the dog learns to stay off the sofa.
On the other hand, extinction refers to the gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a behavior when reinforcement is no longer provided. It occurs when a previously reinforced behavior no longer results in the expected outcome. For example, if a bird becomes ill after eating a certain insect and stops eating that insect, the behavior of eating the insect is extinguished.