A conditioned response fades when the pairing stops, but returns after a delay, so unlearning suppresses rather than erases.
Pavlov's 1927 finding that a rested response returns without any new pairing. It is why relapse in habit change is the expected case rather than evidence of failure, and why the old habit reappears in the original context.
In practice
- A smoker who has not smoked for a year finds the urge intact on returning to the pub where they used to.
- A team that has broken a bad deployment habit reverts to it in the first genuine crisis, without discussion.
- Standing
- Why relapse is the expected case in habit change rather than a failure of will.
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- A century and a half of measuring the mind