Extinction
The discontinuation of reinforcement for a previously reinforced behaviour, leading to its decrease.
Extinction occurs when a behaviour that previously resulted in a consequence no longer does, causing that behaviour to gradually decrease in frequency. It represents breaking the functional relationship between the behaviour and the reinforcing consequence. A common misconception is that extinction simply means 'ignoring'. Ignorance is only extinction if the maintaining function of the behaviour is attention; if a behaviour is maintained by escape or tangible access, ignoring it will not place it on extinction.
You must correctly identify the maintaining reinforcer before using extinction. If you guess wrong, the behaviour will persist. Extinction rarely works well alone and should always pair with teaching a functional alternative behaviour.