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Predispositions to approach and avoid are contextually sensitive and goal dependent

Predispositions to approach and avoid are contextually sensitive and goal dependent
Predispositions to approach and avoid are contextually sensitive and goal dependent
The authors show that predispositions to approach and avoid do not consist simply of specific motor patterns but are more abstract functions that produce a desired environmental effect. It has been claimed that evaluating a visual stimulus as positive or negative evokes a specific motor response, extending the arm to negative stimuli, and contracting to positive stimuli. The authors showed that a large congruency effect (participants were faster to approach pleasant and avoid unpleasant stimuli, than to approach unpleasant and avoid pleasant stimuli) could be produced on a novel touchscreen paradigm (Experiment 1), and that the congruency effect could be reversed by spatial (Experiment 2) and nonspatial (Experiment 3) response effects. Thus, involuntary approach and avoid response activations are not fixed, but sensitive to context, and are specifically based on the desired goal.
1528-3542
174-183
Bamford, Susan
9b57bccd-485f-4d05-aa46-62687293e97a
Ward, Robert
611e73dc-b9ed-4920-a3aa-68dbf032fd9a
Bamford, Susan
9b57bccd-485f-4d05-aa46-62687293e97a
Ward, Robert
611e73dc-b9ed-4920-a3aa-68dbf032fd9a

Bamford, Susan and Ward, Robert (2008) Predispositions to approach and avoid are contextually sensitive and goal dependent. Emotion, 8 (2), 174-183. (doi:10.1037/1528-3542.8.2.174).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The authors show that predispositions to approach and avoid do not consist simply of specific motor patterns but are more abstract functions that produce a desired environmental effect. It has been claimed that evaluating a visual stimulus as positive or negative evokes a specific motor response, extending the arm to negative stimuli, and contracting to positive stimuli. The authors showed that a large congruency effect (participants were faster to approach pleasant and avoid unpleasant stimuli, than to approach unpleasant and avoid pleasant stimuli) could be produced on a novel touchscreen paradigm (Experiment 1), and that the congruency effect could be reversed by spatial (Experiment 2) and nonspatial (Experiment 3) response effects. Thus, involuntary approach and avoid response activations are not fixed, but sensitive to context, and are specifically based on the desired goal.

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Published date: April 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 148395
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/148395
ISSN: 1528-3542
PURE UUID: 8d470a0d-6ee0-405d-a774-1081320977d9

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Date deposited: 28 Apr 2010 08:29
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:02

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Contributors

Author: Susan Bamford
Author: Robert Ward

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