Establishing Behavior by Escape and Avoidance Conditioning Chapter 13 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Escape Conditioning Removal of aversive stimuli after response, increases likelihood of response Negative reinforcement Aversive stimulus must be present for desired response to occur Preparatory training for Avoidance Conditioning Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Examples of Escape Conditioning The associated text is “See Table 13-1 for other examples of escape conditioning.” (page 161) Examples of Escape Conditioning Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Avoidance Conditioning Behavior will increase in frequency if it prevents an aversive stimulus from occurring. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Avoidance Conditioning Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Discriminated Avoidance Conditioning Involves a warning signal of a forthcoming aversive stimulus Synonyms: conditioned aversive stimulus, conditioned punisher A conditioned aversive stimulus is also a conditioned punisher; that is, it will suppress the occurrence of any response that it follows Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pitfall of Escape and Avoidance Conditioning Undesirable behavior may be strengthened Inadvertent establishment of conditioned aversive stimuli Individual responds by avoiding or escaping them Maintains undesirable behaviors of the teacher or other caregivers Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Guidelines for the Effective Application Avoidance procedure preferable over escape procedure Target behavior should be established by escape conditioning before it is put on an avoidance procedure Use warning signal to signal impending aversive stimulus during avoidance conditioning Use escape and avoidance conditioning cautiously Use positive reinforcement in conjunction with escape and avoidance conditioning Individuals should be told about the contingencies Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.