The school is one of three high schools in the Columbia Public School District, with admission based primarily on the locations of students' homes. Hickman is one of the largest high schools in Missouri and has been called the largest in terms of athletic and academic competition.
Aversives can vary from being slightly unpleasant or irritating (such as a disliked color) to physically damaging. It is not the level of unpleasantness, but rather the effectiveness the unpleasant event has on changing behavior that defines the aversive.
Loss aversion. In economics and decision theory, loss aversion refers to people's tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Some studies suggest that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains. Loss aversion was first convincingly demonstrated by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. This leads to risk aversion when people evaluate a possible gain; since people prefer avoiding losses to making gains.