Stampfl T G
Behav Anal. 1987 Fall;10(2):161-73. doi: 10.1007/BF03392426.
Why do human phobias last for months or years when such behavior should undergo extinction? This failure of extinction or persistence of self-defeating behavior of human disorders was labeled by Mowrer as the neurotic paradox. The paradox is cited by an ever-increasing number of critics who challenge any laboratory-based learning model of human psychopathology. Laboratory research, of course, omits essential requirements in the analysis of behavior, and the principles derived from such analyses must be combined in order to explain complex human behavaior. Validation for a behavioral model can thus be achieved if (a) basic principles inferred from observation of humans treated with a laboratory-derived extinction procedure (e.g., implosive therapy) are combined with (b) principles examined in laboratory research that are combined to generate unique predictions that correspond to known features of human phobic behavior. The latter evidence is briefly reviewed in research demonstrating sustained responding over one thousand consecutive active avoidance responses with complete avoidance of the "phobic" CS for an initial single shock trial. Differential reinforcement for responses to early sequential stimuli depends on minimal work requirement, and reinforcement by timeout from avoidance. This combination of factors effectively precludes extinction to main conditioned aversive stimuli for nonhumans, as it does for human phobias. Support for a laboratory model of human phobia is thereby attained.
当这种行为本应逐渐消失时，人类的恐惧症为何会持续数月甚至数年呢？莫勒将人类障碍中这种消退失败或自我挫败行为的持续存在称为神经症悖论。越来越多的批评者引用了这一悖论，他们对任何基于实验室的人类精神病理学学习模型提出了质疑。当然，实验室研究忽略了行为分析中的基本要求，并且必须将从这类分析中得出的原理结合起来，才能解释复杂的人类行为。因此，如果满足以下条件，就可以实现对行为模型的验证：（a）从观察接受实验室衍生的消退程序（如内爆疗法）治疗的人类中推断出的基本原理，与（b）在实验室研究中检验的原理相结合，这些原理相互结合以产生与人类恐惧行为的已知特征相对应的独特预测。在一项研究中简要回顾了后一种证据，该研究表明，在最初的单次电击试验后，连续一千次主动回避反应中持续出现反应，且完全回避了“恐惧”条件刺激。对早期序列刺激反应的差别强化取决于最低工作量要求，以及通过回避超时进行强化。这些因素的组合有效地阻止了非人类对主要条件厌恶刺激的消退，就像对人类恐惧症一样。由此获得了对人类恐惧症实验室模型的支持。
