Psychology Motivation, Emotion, and Social Behavior Concepts Practice Test

Aversion therapy uses classical conditioning to reduce a behavior by pairing it with an unpleasant or negative response. The idea is to create an association between the undesired action and discomfort, so the behavior becomes less likely to occur. For example, a treatment might pair drinking with an aversive reaction (such as nausea from a medication taken when alcohol is consumed), making the person less inclined to drink. Exposure therapy and systematic desensitization focus on reducing fear through gradual exposure and relaxation, not on creating an aversive reaction to the behavior. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a broader approach that targets thoughts and behaviors without relying on pairing the behavior with a negative response. Therefore, the described approach is aversion therapy.