Aversion therapy

From Conservapedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Chinken (talk | contribs) at 00:12, June 22, 2015. It may differ significantly from current revision.
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Aversion therapy is a psychological behavior therapy which seeks to rid an individual of an undesired behavior by pairing that behavior with an aversive consequence. The term was first coined in 1946. It is an example of negative reinforcement learning.

So if every time an individual went to smoke he was given a painful shock, or if his cigarettes had been laced with a substance that induces vomiting, those would be examples of aversion therapy. These techniques can be used in conversion therapy, or to cure any number of addictions or bad habits.

Sources

Abnormal Psychology, Rosenhan & Seligman, 1984