Avoidance behavior can function as a negative occasion setter.

Jan De Houwer; Geert Crombez; Frank Baeyens

doi:10.1037/0097-7403.31.1.101

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Avoidance behavior can function as a negative occasion setter.

Jan De Houwer·Geert Crombez·Frank Baeyens

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Abstract

The authors put forward the hypothesis that avoidance learning can result from the fact that participants learn (a) that a stimulus is followed by an unconditioned stimulus (US) when the avoidance behavior is not emitted and (b) that the stimulus is not followed by the US when the avoidance behavior is emitted. As such, avoidance behavior is assumed to function as a negative occasion setter. The results of a contingency judgment experiment involving 65 students showed that avoidance behavior indeed has the unique functional properties of a negative occasion setter (resistance to counterconditioning and selective transfer of modulation).

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Association Learning Attention Avoidance Learning Conditioning, Classical Cues Electroshock Fear Generalization, Psychological Humans Pattern Recognition, Visual Psychomotor Performance Reversal Learning Set, Psychology Journal Article

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Jan De Houwer, Geert Crombez, Frank Baeyens. 2005. Avoidance behavior can function as a negative occasion setter.. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.31.1.101

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