Knowra Safety behavior Safety behavior A deliberate action or strategy used to prevent a feared outcome or make a threatening situation feel manageable. It can reduce distress in the moment while maintaining anxiety by blocking new learning.
Negative reinforcement : A learning process in which a behavior becomes more likely because it removes or prevents an unpleasant condition. Relief after a safety behavior can reinforce repeating it.
Social anxiety disorder : An anxiety disorder marked by persistent fear of scrutiny, embarrassment, or negative evaluation in social situations. Rehearsing speech or avoiding eye contact can reduce social threat while sustaining self-focused attention.
Avoidance : Behavior that reduces contact with a feared stimulus, situation, thought, or feeling. Avoidance escapes the trigger; safety behavior often occurs while remaining in its presence.
Behavioral experiment : A planned test of a belief that uses observable outcomes to evaluate a prediction. Experiments can examine what a safety behavior prevents and what happens without it.
Avoidance learning : Learning to perform actions that prevent exposure to an anticipated aversive event. Safety behaviors can become learned ways to avoid feared consequences.
Panic disorder : An anxiety disorder involving recurrent unexpected panic attacks and persistent concern about further attacks or their consequences. Carrying medication or staying near exits can become protection against feared attacks.
Compulsion : A repetitive behavior or mental act performed in response to an obsession or rigid rule, often to reduce distress or prevent a feared event. Compulsions are a specific, often ritualized form of threat-preventing action.
Threat appraisal : The evaluation of a situation, cue, or sensation as dangerous or likely to cause harm. Whether a strategy is excessive depends partly on the accuracy of its danger estimate.
Inhibitory learning : Learning that a feared outcome does not follow a cue, creating a competing association rather than erasing the original fear. Dropping safety strategies can help reveal that feared outcomes do not occur.
Obsessive–compulsive disorder : A disorder involving intrusive obsessions and repetitive compulsions performed to reduce distress or prevent feared events. Compulsions often serve as safety behaviors that briefly ease obsessional fear.
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