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Rats handled between trials during shuttle avoidance training were superior to those not handled on several measures of avoidance learning; handled rats were nonetheless inferior to those receiving one-way training. A second experiment clearly demonstrated that differences between shuttle and one-way avoidance could not be attributed to differences in handling. Furthermore, hypotheses which explained poor shuttle avoidance by reference to either competing freezing responses or the necessity of entering a previously shocked compartment were by themselves unable to account for the present findings. A modification and synthesis of these hypotheses was proposed to provide a better account of the present data. It was suggested that freezing will occur only in the presence of fear-motivated conflict and that conflict is present only when a new response is required which is opposed to a previously successful response.