In operant conditioning, a contingency in which responding in the presence of a signal prevents the onset of a stimulus from which escape is a reinforcer is called what?

• A. Discriminated avoidance
• B. Escape contingency
• C. Discriminative stimulus
• D. Establishing operation

Answer: (A)

Discriminated avoidance describes a learning situation where a warning cue signals that a specific response will prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring. The cue serves as a discriminative stimulus, telling the organism when the avoidance response will be effective. If the organism responds during the signal, the aversive event is avoided altogether; if it does not respond, the aversive stimulus is presented. The reinforcing consequence is the prevention of the aversive stimulus, achieved by the subject’s action in the presence of the cue. This differs from escaping, which would involve stopping the aversive stimulus after it has started, and from simple discriminative stimuli or establishing operations, which don’t specify the preventive contingency.