Publication
Richard L. Solomon and Lyman C. Wynne. Traumatic Avoidance Learning: Acquisition in Normal Dogs. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied 67(4), Whole No. 354 (1953). [16]
Site summary — not the original abstract
In this 1953 laboratory experiment, 30 dogs learned to cross a shuttle-box barrier to escape or avoid intense electric shock following a warning signal; avoidance responses became faster with training. [16]
The authors reported that observed emotional reactions to the signal generally preceded the first avoidance response and interpreted the pattern using a two-process learning account, but they also described incomplete emotionality data and unresolved relationships between the proposed processes. [16]
This is historical evidence about acquisition under traumatic experimental conditions, not a test of ordinary pet-training methods or a recommendation to induce fear. [16]
Related site explainer: Two-process learning theory.
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