Avoidance Response

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An avoidance response is a form of escape behavior present in animals or humans in which the subject evades an aversive event. This can be due to anxiety or a frightening situation. Avoidance response is a response that is not necessarily conditioned before being exposed to in the stressful or fearful situation, the stimuli could be neutral. See for example studies involving avoidance response. [1]

In order for avoidance response to occur, descriptive instructions are not crucial. [2] This contributes to the justification of using avoidance response in animal testing.

Avoidance responses are used in animal training and are the commonly expected response to behavioral modification using negative reinforcement. Common examples of avoidance responses in animal training are:

a horse submits to the bit (slowing or stopping) in order to avoid the pressure or pain that the bit causes in its mouth if it is jerked back. a dog learns to walk quietly at a handler's side in order to avoid being choked by its leash.

Avoidance Response links to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which is common in humans as well as animals, because the response usually activates stress. [3]

References/Annotated Bibliography

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1.Gannon, Steven. Roche, Bryan. Kanter, Jonathan. Forsyth, John. Linehan, Conor. "A DERIVED RELATIONS ANALYSIS OF APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN ANXIETY", Psychological Record1 March 2011. Retrieved on 2011-10-2.

I used this source was used to find some semi-basic information on Avoidance Response and show some specific examples of how it works in humans, to help show its meaning and to incorporate in the article.

2.Dymond, Simon; Roche, Bryan; Forsyth, John P.; Whelan, Robert; and Rhoden, Julia (2008) "Derived Avoidance Learning: Transformation Of Avoidance Response Functions In Accordance With Same And Opposite Relational Frames," The Psychological Record: Vol. 58: Iss. 2, Article 8. Available at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/tpr/vol58/iss2/8

3.Brennan, Francis X., Kevin D. Beck, Richard J. Ross, and Richard J. Servatius. "Stress-induced Increases in Avoidance Responding: an Animal Model of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Behavior?" Dove Medical Press, 1 Mar. 2005. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2426817/>. I used information from the abstract and the introduction to this experiment, how avoidance response connects to Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

I used information from the abstract to this article to find more experimentation with human contact (college students) and to summarize their results. This article also tied into the first source I used, with some of the same authors and experiment conductors.