the conditioning of a response that is incompatible with some previously learned response; for example, in psychotherapy an anxious person might be taught relaxation, which is incompatible with anxiety
counterconditioning in American English
(ˌkauntərkənˈdɪʃənɪŋ)
noun
Psychology
the extinction of an undesirable response to a stimulus through the introduction of a more desirable, often incompatible, response
Word origin
[1960–65; counter- + conditioning]This word is first recorded in the period 1960–65. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Pap test, go-go, parvovirus, proxemics, zip codecounter- is a combining form with the meanings “against,” “contrary,” “opposite,” “in oppositionor response to” (countermand); “complementary,” “in reciprocation,” “corresponding,” “parallel” (counterfoil; counterbalance); “substitute,” “duplicate” (counterfeit)
Examples of 'counterconditioning' in a sentence
counterconditioning
A functional connectivity analysis showed that aversive counterconditioning strengthened striatal connectivity with the hippocampus and insula.
Anne Marije Kaag, Renée Schluter, Peter Karel, Judith Homberg, Wim Van Den Brink,Liesbeth Reneman, Guido Van Wingen 2016, 'Aversive counterconditioning attenuates reward signalling in the ventral striatum',Frontiers in Human Neurosciencehttp://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00418/full. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
In the subsequent counterconditioning phase, one of these stimuli was paired with an aversive shock to the wrist.
Anne Marije Kaag, Renée Schluter, Peter Karel, Judith Homberg, Wim Van Den Brink,Liesbeth Reneman, Guido Van Wingen 2016, 'Aversive counterconditioning attenuates reward signalling in the ventral striatum',Frontiers in Human Neurosciencehttp://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00418/full. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)