escape conditioning

the process by which a subject acquires a response that results in the termination of an aversive stimulus. For example, if a monkey learns that pulling a string eliminates a loud noise, escape conditioning has occurred. Also called escape learning; escape training. See also avoidance conditioning.

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Psychology term of the day

January 22nd 2025

states versus transformations

in Piagetian theory, the extent to which a child’s attention is focused on states (e.g., the appearance of an object) rather than transformations (i.e., what is done to the object), and vice versa, at different stages of cognitive development. At the preoperational stage, children center their attention on specific states and ignore the transformations between states, whereas the reverse is true for children at the concrete operational stage.