Operant conditioning: Escape and avoidance learning

so the topic today is about escape learning versus avoidance learning and these two types of learning fall under the category of aversive control an aversive control is a term used to describe situations in which a behavior is motivated by the threat of something unpleasant so let's say this is you and you're studying a definition of escape learning which is when you perform a behavior what the heck are fires breaking out I'm sorry you're going to get out of this video it's unsafe here is a fire breaking out so thankfully is an exit let's just get you out of here and you're gone so let's see if I can put out these fires here so we can continue on with our lecture so thank goodness that you got out safely but let's bring you back here so we can continue on so as I was saying escape learning also known as escape conditioning is when you perform behavior to terminate an ongoing unpleasant aversive stimulus it's the kind of reaction you have when you say to yourself just get me the heck out of here is an element of surprise and escape conditioning because you're thrown into a situation where you have to find a way to get out so in this case when the fire broke out you weren't expecting it but you reacted appropriately by escaping from the situation by using the exit door so that's escape learning now escape learning can be converted into avoidance learning if some sort of signal is given before the aversive or unpleasant stimulus occurs so using the fire example for instance if you are standing here listen to me talk and suddenly this fire alarm started ringing off you would make your way to the exit door and be long gone before the fires broke out put another way you're able to avoid the fire so this is two types of averse of control escape and avoidance