Aversive conditioning ap psychology definition, well, lemme tell ya, it ain’t nothin’ fancy. It’s just a way to make you stop doin’ somethin’ you shouldn’t be doin’. You know, like when you was a kid and you touched that hot stove? You sure didn’t do that again, did ya? That’s kinda like what this aversive conditionin’ thing is all about.
It’s all about bad stuff with bad things, see? You do somethin’ bad, and somethin’ bad happens right after. Your brain, it ain’t too smart, so it starts thinkin’, “Hey, if I do that bad thing, that other bad thing gonna happen again!” And then, hopefully, you stop doin’ the bad thing. Makes sense, right?
Let’s say you got a kid who keeps stickin’ his fingers in the cookie jar ‘fore dinner. You could try this aversive conditionin’ on him. Maybe every time he does it, you make him eat a spoonful of somethin’ he really hates, like, I dunno, that nasty canned spinach. After a while, he might start thinkin’ that cookies ain’t worth that nasty spinach, and he’ll stop sneakin’ ’em.
- Bad behavior: That’s the thing you wanna stop. Like sneakin’ cookies, or bitin’ your nails, or whatever.
- Bad thingy: This is the somethin’ nasty that happens right after the bad behavior. Could be a bad taste, a loud noise, a little shock, even just a squirt of water in the face.
Them fancy psychology folks, they got all sorts of names for this stuff. They call that bad behavior a “undesirable stimulus”. Sounds real smart, don’t it? And that bad thingy, they call it an “aversive stimulus” or a “noxious stimulus”. Again, big words for somethin’ pretty simple. It’s like trainin’ a dog, if he chews your shoes, you make a loud noise or somethin’, then eventually he’ll think shoes are bad, bad things.
Now, this aversive conditionin’ ain’t always the best way to go about things. It can be kinda harsh, and it don’t always work. Sometimes, people just get used to the bad thingy, and they go right back to doin’ the bad behavior. And sometimes, it can make things worse. Like, if you yell at a kid every time he spills his milk, he might just get scared and spill it more. Makes him nervous, you see? That’s a whole other mess, it is.
Reinforcement versus Punishment, they call it somethin’ else in them books. See, if you do somethin’ good and get a treat, you’re more likely to do that good thing again, like a dog rollin’ over for a biscuit. That’s reinforcement. But if you do something bad and get punished, well, hopefully, you ain’t gonna do that bad thing again. That’s punishment, that aversive conditionin’ thing. It’s like trainin’ chickens. If they peck where they ain’t supposed to, I give ‘em a little squirt with the water hose. They learn pretty quick, them chickens do.
This aversive conditioning, you can use it for all sorts of things. Some folks use it to help people quit smokin’ or drinkin’. They might give ‘em somethin’ that makes ‘em sick every time they have a cigarette or a drink. That way, they start associatin’ cigarettes or booze with feelin’ sick, and they ain’t gonna want it no more. Or like that dog chewin’ on the furniture, they got that bitter spray stuff, you spray it on the furniture and the dog thinks it tastes awful, he’ll leave it alone. I seen it work, I have.
But like I said, it ain’t always the best way. It’s important to be careful with this aversive conditionin’ stuff. You don’t wanna hurt nobody, and you don’t wanna make things worse. Sometimes, a little kindness and patience goes a long way. But sometimes, you gotta be a little firm, you know? Life’s like that. You gotta do what you gotta do to get folks to behave themselves, whether it’s kids, dogs, or even chickens!
Aversive conditioning, plain and simple, it’s just about makin’ somethin’ bad happen when somethin’ else bad happens, so folks learn not to do that bad thing no more. It ain’t rocket science, it ain’t. It’s just common sense, really. You do bad, bad things happen. You do good, good things happen. That’s how the world works, far as I can tell.
And that, as far as I understand it, is what them psychology folks mean when they talk about “aversive conditioning.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go chase them chickens outta my garden. They don’t seem to understand this aversive conditionin’ thing too well, them birds.
