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Related Concept Videos

Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness01:14

Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness

Avoidance learning and learned helplessness are critical concepts in understanding behavioral responses to negative stimuli.
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Frustration and Conflict: Avoidance-Avoidance, Double-Approach Avoidance01:14

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Avoidance-avoidance conflict refers to a psychological situation where a person must choose between two or more unpleasant alternatives. These conflicts are particularly stressful because neither option is desirable. This dilemma is often expressed in sayings like "caught between a rock and a hard place" or "between the devil and the deep blue sea." For instance, individuals who fear dental procedures may find themselves torn between enduring a painful toothache or facing the anxiety of...
Self-Discrepancy Theory02:45

Self-Discrepancy Theory

One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.
Frustration and Conflict: Approach-Approach, Approach-Avoidance01:20

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Frustration occurs when people are obstructed or prevented from achieving a desired goal or fulfilling a perceived need. For example, when someone's input is ignored in a discussion, it can lead to feelings of frustration. Conflict, however, arises from opposing interests, goals, or actions. Conflicts can take various forms based on the nature of these opposing desires or goals.
One common type of conflict is the Approach–Approach Conflict. In this case, a person faces two desirable options,...
Preparedness and Phobias01:09

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Human fear responses to certain stimuli, such as darkness, heights, deep water, and blood, can often arise despite the absence of direct negative experiences. This phenomenon is rooted in evolutionary psychology, which posits that humans have developed a predisposition to fear stimuli that historically posed significant survival threats. This predisposition, known as preparedness, suggests that early humans who developed a fear of potentially dangerous entities, such as venomous snakes and...
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While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. For instance, as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime. Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree? Or, after committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone?

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
09:00

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

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|July 9, 2008
PubMed
Summary

This study shows that avoidance behavior stems from learning about stimulus relations and behavior-stimulus contingencies. Cognitive theory integrates Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning to explain avoidance learning.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

  • Avoidance learning typically involves a warning signal preceding an aversive stimulus, which can be omitted by a specific response.
  • Lovibond's (2006) cognitive theory posits that avoidance behavior integrates Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying avoidance learning.
  • To test Lovibond's (2006) theory integrating Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning in avoidance behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental design involving a warning signal and a required response to avoid an aversive unconditioned stimulus.
  • Analysis of participants' acquired knowledge regarding stimulus-stimulus and response-stimulus relationships.

Main Results:

  • Avoidance behavior was found to be dependent on the integration of learned associations.
  • Evidence supports the theory that both stimulus-stimulus (Pavlovian) and response-stimulus (instrumental) relations inform avoidance learning.

Conclusions:

  • Avoidance learning is a complex process involving the integration of cognitive information.
  • The findings support a cognitive model where both associative learning types contribute to avoidance behavior.