Aversion, Avoidance & Escape

1. Applied Classical Conditioning

Ever feel like running away? The problem with running away from something causes to run toward something different, often without considering what options are available to use. In escape, a bad thing happens before we are activated into action. In avoidance, a bad thing happens and we try really hard to to let it happen again.In aversion, the thought of something bad is enough for us to dislike it.

Here are 5 things we will discuss:

• Applied Classical Conditioning
• Aversion
• Avoidance
• Escape
• PTSD

Watson

• • Little Albert
  • Walter Thompson Advertising
  • Ponds cold cream
  • Maxwell house “coffee break”
  • Testimonials
  • Pebeco toothpaste
  • Seduction, smoking is okay if use Pebeco
  • Advertising

Current examples

2. Aversion

Avoidance : stopping from doing (I control)

Aversion: Strong dislike or disinclination (external control)

Taste Aversion

• • Fairly common
  • Sushi
  • Chemotherapy: associate drug nausea with food
  • Toxic, poisonous or spoiled food
  • Operant or classical conditioning?
  • Not require cognitive awareness
  • One trial
  • Long time between $ and effect
  • Hot dog at lunch, sick at night

Garcia, John

1. 1. Garcia effect
   2. Coincidental, not food caused
   3. Rats given sweetened water before radiation
   4. 3 groups
   5. No radiation            chose sweet.   80%
   6. Mild radiation          mix                40%
   7. Strong radiation       tap                  10%
   8. Choice of sweetened or tap water
   9. Moral: stimulus used in classical conditioning matters
   10. An internal stimulus produced an internal response while an external stimulus produced an external response; but an external stimulus would not produce an internal response and vice versa

Seligman

• • Sauce-bearmaise syndrome

Risk

• • Prefer outcomes with low uncertainty
  • Even if can get more reward
  • More predictable but less profitable

Rotter

• • Behavior = likelihood and size of reward

Kahneman & Tversky

• • Tend to avoid risk if choice is between gains
  • Seek risks when choice is between losses
  • For example, most people prefer a certain gain of 3,000 to an 80% chance of a gain of 4,000. When posed the same problem, but for losses, most people prefer an 80% chance of a loss of 4,000 to a certain loss of 3,000.
  • Brain
  • Risk aversion in right inferior frontal gyrus
  • Deal or No Deal
  • People are more risk averse in limelight
  • Investors
  • Investors trade more frequently and more speculatively with online trading (instead of phone)

Loss Aversion

• • Prefer avoiding losses
  • Loss preceeds loss aversion
  • Previously experienced (loss)
    • Start another relationship after breakup
  • Expected to happen (risk)
  • Loss aversion is twice as strong as risk
    • Much worse to lose $100 than satisfaction of winning $100
  • Expectations
    • belief about an outcome; can create loss aversion even if nothing bad has happened
  • Framing
    • $5 discount or as a $5 surcharge

3. Avoidance

• Bad experience
• Don’t go back
• Put on sun glasses before going out
• Avoidance parados: no stimulus, so what maintains behavior
• Discriminated avoidance experiment
  • Neutral stimulus (light) is followed by aversive (shock)
  • Press lever to prevent aversive stimulus: avoidance
• Free-operant avoidance learning
  • No neutral stimulus
  • Periodically gets shock unless press lever periodically

4. Escape

• Bad experience
• Get out
• Behavior terminates aversive stimulus
• Cover eyes, cover ears, leave location
• Negative reinforcement
  • Neutral stimulus (light) is followed by aversive (shock)
  • Press lever to terminate aversive stimulus: escape

5. PTSD

• History
  • Shell shock
  • Combat neurosis
  • Mental disorder?
• Traumatic event occurs
  • Most people don’t have symptoms
  • War: 75% no symptoms
• Any person
• Any age
• Symptoms after event
• Symptoms within first 3 months
  • Flashback: relive episode
  • Disorder: cause disruption
• Longer than month
• Heredity?
  • Twins in Vietnam war, more likely
  • Smaller hippocampus more likely
  • Heightened startle response
• Brain
  • High levels of cortisol, can’t reset
  • Low levels of serotonin (regulate emotion)
  • Low levels of dopamine (what’s important)
  • Less active ventromedial areas (regulation of emotion)
  • Smaller hippocampus (emotional memories not processed)
  • May self-medicate with drugs and alcohol
• •