Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Human aggressive responses maintained by avoidance or escape from point loss.

D R Cherek1, R Spiga, J L Steinberg

  • 1University of Texas Medical School, Houston.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|March 1, 1990
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Examination of preliminary behavioral and effective connectivity findings from treatment response to citalopram in cocaine use disorder: A dynamic causal modeling study.

Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging·2020
Same author

Hospital-acquired infections documented by repeated annual prevalence surveys over 15 years.

Medecine et maladies infectieuses·2017
Same author

Individual differences and social influences on the neurobehavioral pharmacology of abused drugs.

Pharmacological reviews·2013
Same author

Production of high-frequency energy by ionized gases.

Nature·2010
Same author

Interactions between bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder in trait impulsivity and severity of illness.

Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica·2010
Same author

Use of the Zung depression scale in patients with traumatic brain injury: 1 year post-injury.

Brain injury·2005
Same journal

The Genoeconomics of Impulsive Intertemporal Choice: A Critical Review.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Shaping the extinction burst: Increasing its probability and preventing its emergence across topographies.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Evaluating the combined effects of effort and probability on monetary discounting.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

An improved translational approach to studying persistence-strengthening effects of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Interactions between the effects of food and water motivating operations on concurrent food- and water-reinforced responding in mice.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Odor-visual and visual-visual matching to sample with dogs.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
See all related articles

Aggressive responding in humans was maintained by avoidance and escape from simulated point loss. These behaviors persisted even without actual point loss, demonstrating the power of negative reinforcement.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Human operant conditioning

Background:

  • Aggression is a complex behavior influenced by various environmental factors.
  • Understanding the operant conditioning principles that maintain aggressive responses is crucial for behavioral interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of avoidance and escape contingencies in maintaining human aggressive responding.
  • To examine how different schedules of reinforcement influence the rate and persistence of aggressive behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Six male human subjects participated in 50-minute sessions.
  • Subjects could press Button A (earning points) or Button B (subtracting points from a fictitious subject).
  • Aggressive responding (Button B) was used to escape or avoid programmed point losses.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Avoidance contingencies maintained high rates of aggressive responding over 30 sessions, even without actual point loss.
  • Escape contingencies also maintained aggressive responding, with rates correlating to the frequency of point loss.
  • Aggressive responding effectively initiated intervals free from point loss.

Conclusions:

  • Both avoidance and escape from negative stimuli can powerfully maintain aggressive behavior in humans.
  • Operant principles, particularly negative reinforcement, play a significant role in the persistence of aggressive responses.
  • The study highlights the importance of considering environmental contingencies when addressing aggressive behavior.