Wildlife managers in protected areas of North America have used aversive conditioning for decades to teach bears to associate unpleasant stimuli (such as chases, noise, or pain) with human-use contexts to teach bears greater wariness and reduce conflict with people. Despite the duration of use, general information is still lacking for the design, implementation, and success of aversive conditioning programs, which limits their efficacy in North America and adoption in other parts of the world where bear-human conflict is growing. I identify six learning principles for effective punishment, another name for aversive conditioning, that are well-known to psychologists, but not wildlife managers; evolutionary relevance, immediacy, initial intensity, consistency, contingency, and positive reinforcement for alternative behaviours. I illustrate the use, as well as limitations for use, of these principles with field studies involving bears from my own lab and published studies. I also highlight the importance of individual variation, also known as personality, in the responses of animals to aversive conditioning. Greater attention to these principles could increase the efficacy of aversive conditioning to support human-bear coexistence around the world.