Definition
Behavior that prevents or postpones exposure to an anticipated aversive stimulus or threat.
Introduction
Avoidance is an adaptive and versatile defensive behavior that helps protect many taxa from engaging with dangerous situations and harmful stimuli. In the wild, prey may seek refuge when an alarm call is heard or flee if the scent of a predator is detected, thus eluding a potentially fatal encounter or serious injury. Avoidance is distinct from escape, which refers to behavior that terminates an ongoing exposure to an aversive stimulus or threat. The roles of learning, fear, and anxiety in avoidance behavior have been the focus of laboratory research for many decades. This interest arose in part from the puzzle that avoidance behavior posed for theories of reinforcement: What is the reward for a behavior that is followed by a nonevent? It has persisted because of the insights...
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References
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Colwill, R.M. (2017). Avoidance. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1033-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1033-1
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