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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
Published on: October 3, 2020
Evidence for an expectancy-based theory of avoidance behaviour
Mieke Declercq1, Jan De Houwer, Frank Baeyens
1Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. MiekeE.Declercq@UGent.be
Abstract:
In most studies on avoidance learning, participants receive an aversive unconditioned stimulus after a warning signal is presented, unless the participant performs a particular response. Lovibond (2006) recently proposed a cognitive theory of avoidance learning, according to which avoidance behaviour is a function of both Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning. In line with this theory, we found that avoidance behaviour was based on an integration of acquired knowledge about, on the one hand, the relation between stimuli and, on the other hand, the relation between behaviour and stimuli.
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