Common sense dictates we will quickly stop doing something if it gets us nothing. A century of psychological research also backs this up. For example, if we turn the key to our car and the engine doesn’t start, we might turn the key a handful more times. But if nothing happens, we’re not going to keep turning and turning the key. We’ll give up and open the hood or call a tow truck. Psychologists call this stopping of unrewarding behavior “extinction.”
