They therefore become more likely in the future: even ill-considered or rash actions become reinforced. Some rash actions involve risk, and those risky behaviors are also reinforced; as a result, one comes to engage in risky behaviors with greater frequency. We believe it is also true that, on each occasion in which this takes place, one has missed an opportunity to engage in a more adaptive response to one's intense emotion; one then has fewer experiences in which adaptive responses to intense emotion are reinforced. The result is an increasing reliance on risky behaviors in response to intense emotions.
