Article

Comparing measures of approach-avoidance behaviour: The manikin task vs. two versions of the joystick task

August 2010
Cognition and Emotion 24(5):810-828

Authors:

Universität Regensburg

The present research compared three measures of approach–avoidance behaviour with respect to their sensitivity and criterion-validity: moving a manikin on the screen towards and away from stimuli (manikin task), pulling and pushing a joystick (joystick task), and pulling and pushing a joystick causing the visual impression that the stimuli come closer or disappear (feedback-joystick task). When participants responded to stimulus valence, the manikin task was more sensitive to valence than the joystick task (Experiment 1). When participants responded to the grammatical category of valent words, the manikin and the feedback-joystick but not the joystick task were sensitive to valence (Experiment 2). Finally, the manikin task was more sensitive than the feedback-joystick task in assessing approach–avoidance reactions towards spiders, and it was more strongly related to self-reported fear of spiders (Experiment 3). The likelihood of recategorisation of approach–avoidance responses and the means of distance change are discussed as possible explanations for the differences.

Is the approach avoidance compatibility effect moderated by word imageability?

Article

Aug 2023
Q J Exp Psychol

The approach/avoidance (AA) compatibility effect refers to the fact that individuals respond faster by an approach movement to positive than to negative stimuli, whereas they respond faster by an avoidance movement to negative than to positive stimuli. Although this effect has been observed in many studies, the underlying mechanisms remain still unclear. On the basis of recent studies suggesting a key role of sensorimotor information in the emergence of the AA compatibility effect, the present study aimed to investigate the specific role of visual information, operationalised through word imageability, in the production of the AA compatibility effect. We orthogonally manipulated the emotional valence (positive/negative) and the imageability (low/high) of words in an incidental online-AA task (i.e., in the absence of valence processing goals) using a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 300 ms. In line with previous studies, Experiment 1 revealed an AA compatibility effect in the absence of valence processing goals. However, this effect was not moderated by word imageability. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the absence of influence of word imageability could be due to the short SOA (300 ms) used in this experiment. We used the same design as in Experiment 1 and manipulated the SOA (400 vs 600 ms). We again observed an AA compatibility effect which was not moderated by word imageability, whatever the SOA used. The results of both experiments suggest the absence of any influence of sensorimotor information in the AA compatibility effect, at least when provided by the to-be-approached/avoided stimulus.

How pre-processing decisions affect the reliability and validity of the approach–avoidance task: Evidence from simulations and multiverse analyses with six datasets

Article

Full-text available

May 2023
BEHAV RES METHODS

Reaction time (RT) data are often pre-processed before analysis by rejecting outliers and errors and aggregating the data. In stimulus–response compatibility paradigms such as the approach–avoidance task (AAT), researchers often decide how to pre-process the data without an empirical basis, leading to the use of methods that may harm data quality. To provide this empirical basis, we investigated how different pre-processing methods affect the reliability and validity of the AAT. Our literature review revealed 108 unique pre-processing pipelines among 163 examined studies. Using empirical datasets, we found that validity and reliability were negatively affected by retaining error trials, by replacing error RTs with the mean RT plus a penalty, and by retaining outliers. In the relevant-feature AAT, bias scores were more reliable and valid if computed with D-scores; medians were less reliable and more unpredictable, while means were also less valid. Simulations revealed bias scores were likely to be less accurate if computed by contrasting a single aggregate of all compatible conditions with that of all incompatible conditions, rather than by contrasting separate averages per condition. We also found that multilevel model random effects were less reliable, valid, and stable, arguing against their use as bias scores. We call upon the field to drop these suboptimal practices to improve the psychometric properties of the AAT. We also call for similar investigations in related RT-based bias measures such as the implicit association task, as their commonly accepted pre-processing practices involve many of the aforementioned discouraged methods. Highlights • Rejecting RTs deviating more than 2 or 3 SD from the mean gives more reliable and valid results than other outlier rejection methods in empirical data • Removing error trials gives more reliable and valid results than retaining them or replacing them with the block mean and an added penalty • Double-difference scores are more reliable than compatibility scores under most circumstances • More reliable and valid results are obtained both in simulated and real data by using double-difference D-scores, which are obtained by dividing a participant’s double mean difference score by the SD of their RTs

Conflict in a word‐based approach‐avoidance task is stronger with positive words

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Background Valence and motivational direction are linked. We approach good things and avoid bad things, and experience overriding these links as conflicting. Positive valence is more consistently linked with approach than negative valence is linked with avoidance. Therefore, avoiding positive stimuli should produce greater behavioral and neural signs of conflict than approaching negative stimuli. Methods In the present event‐related potential study, we tested this assumption by contrasting positive and negative conflict. We used the manikin task, in which we read positive and negative words that they needed to approach and avoid. Results Consistent with our prediction, positive conflict prolonged reaction times more than negative conflict did. A late (500–1000 ms following word onset) event‐related potential that we identified as the Conflict slow potential, was only sensitive to positive conflict. Conclusion The results of this study support the notion that avoiding positive stimuli is more conflicting than approaching negative stimuli. The fact that the conflict slow potential is typically sensitive to response conflict rather than stimulus conflict suggests that the manikin task primarily requires people to override prepotent responses rather than to identify conflicting stimuli. Thus, the present findings also shed light on the psychological processes subserving conflict resolution in the manikin task.

The Effect of Menstrual Cycle Phases on Approach–Avoidance Behaviors in Women: Evidence from Conscious and Unconscious Processes

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2022
BSRCCS

The menstrual cycle affects women’s emotional states, with estrogen and progesterone having predominant roles. However, it remains unclear whether the phases of the menstrual cycle also affect women’s motivational behaviors. In this study, the main aim was to investigate how the menstrual cycle influences approach–avoidance behavior under conditions of conscious versus unconscious processing of emotions. Briefly, after recruitment by advertisement and screening with a menstrual cycle survey questionnaire, 27 naturally cycling, healthy women participated in an improved “manikin task” and were presented both positive and negative emotional stimuli during early follicular, late follicular, and mid-luteal phases. Estrogen and progesterone levels were measured. Women in the late follicular phase exhibited the shortest response times for approaching positive stimuli, while women in the mid-luteal phase exhibited the shortest response times for avoiding negative stimuli. Estrogen and progesterone levels significantly correlated with the speed of the approach–avoidance responses observed for the women, indicating the important role that sex hormones have in mediating emotionally motivated behavior. Overall, these findings suggest that the menstrual cycle has strong and specific influences on women’s approach–avoidance behaviors that are in part mediated by estrogen and progesterone. By identifying characteristics of these behaviors in the late follicular and mid-luteal phases, greater insight can be provided to women regarding the physiological influences of the menstrual cycle on their personal growth and security.

Connectivity from ipsilateral and contralateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the active primary motor cortex during approaching-avoiding behavior

Article

Oct 2022
CORTEX

Automatic action tendency is reflected by a fast reaction to approach positive stimulus and to avoid negative stimulus (automatic behaviors), while a slow reaction to approach negative stimulus and avoid positive stimulus (controlled behaviors). The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in the modulation of the automatic action tendency; however, it remains unclear whether DLPFC modulates the behavior through motor inhibition or excitation, as well as the exact timing of the modulation. We used paired-pulse, dual-site TMS protocols to investigate the connectivity between left/right DLPFC and the left primary motor cortex (M1) during the manikin task performed with the right hand. For the behavioral data, the results from reaction time (RT) and premotor time (PMT), which represents the beginning of finger movements, of the approaching-avoiding behavior in both experiments showed a shorter duration for automatic behavior compared to the controlled behavior. There was stronger facilitation of the left DLPFC-left M1 connectivity at interstimulus-interval of 25 ms in controlled behavior compared to automatic behavior (positive-approaching vs. positive-avoiding: p = 0.002; negative-avoiding vs. negative-approaching: p = 0.017). The right DLPFC-left M1 connectivity did not change with the task. The present study confirmed the automatic action tendency from both reaction time and the premotor time. During the right-handed task, the DLPFC contralateral but not ipsilateral to the effector could facilitate the left M1 to speed up the execution of the controlled behavior through a polysynaptic pathway.

EXPRESS: Reliability and Convergence of Approach/Avoidance Bias Assessment Tasks in the Food Consumption Domain

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2022

Theories of motivation posit that people will more readily approach positive or appetitive stimuli, and there has been growing interest in the relationship between biases in approach and avoidance behaviours for food cues and food craving and consumption behaviour. Two paradigms commonly employed by research to investigate this relationship are the Approach Avoidance Task (AAT) and the Stimulus Response Compatibility Task (SRCT). However, it is yet to be determined whether the measures yielded by these tasks reflect the same processes operating in the food craving and consumption domain. The present study examined the internal reliability and convergence of AAT and SRCT paradigms in their assessment of biased approach to unhealthy compared to healthy food stimuli, and whether the measures yielded by the AAT and SRCT paradigms demonstrated associations with individual differences in food craving and eating behaviour. One hundred and twenty-one participants completed an SRCT, an AAT using an arm movement response mode, and an AAT using a key-press response mode. The measures yielded comparable and acceptable levels of internal consistency, but convergence between the different task bias scores was modest or absent, and only approach bias as measured with the AAT task using an arm movement response mode was associated with self-report measures of eating behaviour and trait food craving. Thus, tasks did not converge strongly enough to be considered equivalent measures of approach/avoidance biases, and the AAT task using an arm movement response seems uniquely suited to detecting approach biases argued to characterise maladaptive eating behaviour and craving.

Me & Them: Investigations into the Perceptual Generalisation of Self-Referential Prioritisation

Thesis

Aug 2021

Neelabja Roy

Assessing Automatic Approach-Avoidance Behavior in an Immersive Virtual Environment

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2021

The use of virtual reality (VR) promises enormous potential for studying human behavior. While approach and avoidance tendencies have been explored in various areas of basic and applied psychology, such as attitude and emotion research, basic learning psychology, and behavior therapy, they have rarely been studied in VR. One major focus of this research is to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying automatic behavioral tendencies towards and away from positively or negatively evaluated stimuli. We implemented a whole-body movement stimulus-response compatibility task to explore approach-avoidance behavior in an immersive virtual environment. We chose attitudinal stimuli—spiders and butterflies—on which people widely agree in their general evaluations (in that people evaluate spiders negatively and butterflies positively), while there is still substantial inter-individual variance (i. e., the intensity in which people dislike spiders or like butterflies). We implemented two parallel approach-avoidance tasks, one in VR, one desktop-based. Both tasks revealed the expected compatibility effects that were positively intercorrelated. Interestingly, however, the compatibility effect in the VR measure was unrelated to participants’ self-reported fear of spiders and stimulus evaluations. These results raise important implications about the usage of VR to study automatic behavioral tendencies.

Approach-avoidance tendencies in depression and childhood trauma: No effect of noradrenergic stimulation

Article

Nov 2021

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are a major risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD) in later life. Both conditions are characterized by dysregulations in the noradrenergic system related which again could represent a mediating mechanism for deficits in affective processing and behavioral functioning. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study we tested the hypothesis that ACE and MDD are characterized by aberrant approach-avoidance (AA) tendencies and that these are mitigated after noradrenergic stimulation with yohimbine. In a mixed-measures, fully crossed design, participants (N = 131, 73 women) with/without MDD and with/without ACE received a single-dose of yohimbine or placebo on different days, followed by an AA task. We found modulation of AA tendencies by the emotional valence of target images, yet there were no effects of group or treatment. From these results, we conclude that AA tendencies are not critically affected by MDD or ACE and that the noradrenergic system is not substantially involved in this behavior.

Functional role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the modulation of cognitive bias

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2021

Human cognition is often biased. It is a fundamental question in psychology how cognitive bias is modulated in the human brain. Automatic action tendency is a typical cognitive bias. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a crucial area for processing various behavioral tasks. We investigated the functional role of DLPFC in the modulation of cognitive bias by testing the automatic action tendency during automatic and regulated behavioral tasks. Unilateral intermittent or continuous theta burst stimulation (excitatory iTBS or inhibitory cTBS) was used to manipulate the left or right DLPFC excitability and assess the changes in automatic action tendency during a manikin task. An approaching behavior with positive stimulus and avoiding behavior with negative stimulus were performed in an automatic task. An approaching behavior with negative stimulus and avoiding behavior with positive stimulus were performed in a regulated task. Reaction time was measured. We confirmed the automatic action tendency that reaction time for performing an automatic task was shorter than that for performing a regulated task. The automatic action tendency was enhanced after left DLPFC excitatory iTBS and was abolished after left DLPFC inhibitory cTBS stimulation. On the other hand, right DLPFC excitatory iTBS accelerated the avoiding behaviors and right DLPFC inhibitory cTBS accelerated approaching behaviors. The results suggest that left DLPFC modulates the automatic action tendency while the right DLPFC modulates the direction of behavioral tasks. We conclude that left DLPFC and right DLPFC are key nodes in modulating the cognitive bias while their functional roles are different.

Task-relevant social cues affect whole-body approach-avoidance behavior

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Positively evaluated stimuli facilitate approach and negatively evaluated stimuli prompt avoidance responses, as typically measured by reaction time differences when moving a joystick toward the own body or away from it. In this study, we explore whether a whole-body response (forward and backward leaning can serve as a better indicator of approach-avoidance behavior; AA). Thirty-two subjects were presented with pictures of males and females with angry or happy facial expressions. Subjects had to perform approach or avoidance responses by leaning forward or backward, either based on the facial expression of the stimulus or the gender of the stimulus. Leaning responses were sensitive to angry faces for explicit decision cues. Here, angry facial expressions facilitated backward leaning but not when responding to the gender of the stimulus. We compare this to the established manual measure of AA and discuss our results with regard to response coding.

On the Relationship between Value- and Threat-Driven Attentional Capture and Approach-Avoidance Biases

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2023
BSRCCS

Reward learning and aversive conditioning have consequences for attentional selection, such that stimuli that come to signal reward and threat bias attention regardless of their valence. Appetitive and aversive stimuli have distinctive influences on response selection, such that they activate an approach and an avoidance response, respectively. However, whether the involuntary influence of reward- and threat-history-laden stimuli extends to the manner in which a response is directed remains unclear. Using a feedback-joystick task and a manikin task, which are common paradigms for examining valence-action bias, we demonstrate that reward- and threat-signalling stimuli do not modulate response selection. Stimuli that came to signal reward and threat via training biased attention and invigorated action in general, but they did not facilitate an approach and avoidance response, respectively. We conclude that attention can be biased towards a stimulus as a function of its prior association with reward or aversive outcomes without necessarily influencing approach vs. avoidance tendencies, such that the mechanisms underlying the involuntary control of attention and behaviour evoked by valent stimuli can be decoupled.

Automatic approach-avoidance tendency toward physical activity, sedentary, and neutral stimuli as a function of age, explicit affective attitude, and intention to be active

Preprint

Full-text available

Sep 2022

Using computerized reaction-time tasks assessing automatic attitudes, studies have shown that healthy young adults have faster reaction times when approaching physical activity stimuli than when avoiding them. The opposite has been observed for sedentary stimuli. However, it is unclear whether these results hold across the lifespan and when error rates and a possible generic approach-avoidance tendency are accounted for. Here, reaction times and errors in online approach-avoidance tasks of 130 participants aged 21 to 77 years were analyzed using mixed-effects models. Automatic approach-avoidance tendencies were tested using physical activity, sedentary, and neutral stimuli. Explicit attitudes toward physical activity and intention to be physically active were self-reported. Results showed faster reaction times and fewer errors when approaching compared to avoiding physical activity stimuli before 45 years of age and faster reactions to avoiding compared to approaching sedentary stimuli after this age. These results suggest a tendency to approach physical activity stimuli in younger adults and a tendency to avoid sedentary stimuli older adults. However, reaction time and error results revealed a generic approach tendency in early adulthood and a generic avoidance tendency in late adulthood. When accounting for these generic tendencies, results no longer showed evidence of an effect of age on approach-avoidance tendencies toward physical activity stimuli but kept suggesting a greater tendency (i.e., fewer errors) to avoid sedentary stimuli in older adults. Both reaction-time and error results supported a tendency to approach physical activity stimuli and to avoid sedentary stimuli across age, when further accounting for sex-gender, level of physical activity, body mass index, and chronic health condition. Finally, exploratory analyses showed that approach-avoidance tendencies toward physical activity and sedentary stimuli were associated with explicit attitudes toward physical activity but showed no evidence of an association with the intention to be physically active.

On the contribution of repeated experience to evaluative learning : An approach-avoidance procedure investigation

Thesis

Dec 2021

Cédric Batailler

In the field of implicit social cognition, indirect evaluative responses represent an opportunity to overcome some of the limitations of self-report. Theoretically capturing something progressively encoded over time and guiding our behaviors, these measures would allow us to determine the attitude that people have towards something, even when these people would not or could not reveal their preferences. For most theoretical models accounting for these behavioral responses, it is through repeated experience that we develop indirect evaluative responses. Recent experimental work, however, highlighted the impact that simple instructions can have on these evaluative responses. Throughout this dissertation, we argue that the effects of repeated experience and simple instructions differ. To investigate this question, we first developed an approach-avoidance training paradigm in which our participants were asked to repeatedly approach and avoid stimuli. After showing that new indirect evaluative responses emerged from this type of training (Exp. 1a–2), we compared this experimental paradigm to an instruction-based procedure (Exp. 3–7). Of these five studies comparing the two procedures on several types of indirect evaluative responses, across different populations, and in different situations, two revealed greater effectiveness of approach and avoidance training (the other three were inconclusive). Two additional experiments addressed the issue of naive theories that individuals might have about this issue (Exp. 8 & 9). Taken together, these results are consistent with recent theoretical advances in the field of implicit social cognition and lead us to recommend paradigms such as approach and avoidance training over paradigms based on simple instructions.

Attention to emotion and reliance on feelings in decision-making: Variations on a pleasure principle

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2021
COGNITION

Individuals are thought to differ in the extent to which they attend to and value their feelings, as captured by the construct of attention to emotion. The well-being correlates of attention to emotion have been extensively studied, but the decision-making correlates have not been. A three study program of research (total N = 328) sought to examine relationships between stimulus-specific feelings and decisions concerning those stimuli in the context of high levels of within-subject power. Evidence for the pleasure principle was robust, in that individuals placed a virtual self closer to stimuli that they found more pleasant (Study 1) and they wished to re-view such stimuli more frequently (Studies 2 & 3). These relationships, however, were more pronounced at higher levels of attention to emotion. The findings affirm the importance of feelings in decision-making while highlighting ways in which individual differences in attention to emotion operate.

Math-Failure Associations, Attentional Biases, and Avoidance Bias: The Relationship with Math Anxiety and Behaviour in Adolescents

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023
COGNITIVE THER RES

Background Math anxiety in adolescence negatively affects learning math and careers. The current study investigated whether three cognitive biases, i.e. math-failure associations, attentional biases (engagement and disengagement), and avoidance bias for math, were related to math anxiety and math behaviour (math grade and math avoidance behaviour). Methods In total, 500 secondary school students performed three cognitive bias tasks, questionnaires and a math performance task, and reported their grades. Results Math-failure associations showed the most consistent associations with the outcome measures. They were associated with higher math anxiety above and beyond sex and education level. Those math-failure associations were also associated with lower grades and more avoidance behaviour, however, not above and beyond math anxiety. Engagement bias and avoidance tendency bias were associated with math avoidance behaviour, though the avoidance bias finding should be interpreted with care given the low reliability of the measure. Disengagement biases were not associated with any math anxiety nor behaviour outcome measure. Conclusions Whereas a more reliable instrument for avoidance bias is necessary for conclusions on the relations with math performance and behaviour, the current results do suggest that math-failure associations, and not attentional bias, may play a role in the maintenance of math anxiety.

Automatic approach-avoidance tendency toward physical activity, sedentary, and neutral stimuli as a function of age, explicit affective attitude, and intention to be active

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023

Using computerized reaction-time tasks assessing automatic attitudes, studies have shown that healthy young adults have faster reaction times when approaching physical activity stimuli than when avoiding them. The opposite has been observed for sedentary stimuli. However, it is unclear whether these results hold across the lifespan and when error rates and a possible generic approach-avoidance tendency are ac- counted for. Here, reaction times and errors in online approach-avoidance tasks of 130 participants aged 21 to 77 years were analyzed using mixed-effects models. Automatic approach-avoidance tendencies were tested using physical activity, sedentary, and neutral stimuli. Explicit attitudes toward physical activity and intention to be physically active were self-reported. Results accounting for age, sex, gender, level of physi- cal activity, body mass index, and chronic health condition confirmed a main tendency to approach physical activity stimuli (i.e., faster reaction to approach vs. avoid; p = .001) and to avoid sedentary stimuli (i.e., faster reaction to avoid vs. approach; p < .001). Results based on neutral stimuli revealed a generic approach ten- dency in early adulthood (i.e., faster approach before age 53 and fewer errors before age 36) and a generic avoidance tendency in older adults (i.e., more errors after age 60). When accounting for these generic ten- dencies, results showed a greater tendency (i.e., fewer errors) to avoid than approach sedentary stimuli after aged 50, but not before (p = .026). Exploratory analyses showed that irrespective of age, participants were faster at approaching physical activity (p = .028) and avoiding sedentary stimuli (p = .041) when they considered physical activity as pleasant and enjoyable (explicit attitude). However, results showed no evi- dence of an association between approach-avoidance tendencies and the intention to be physically active. Taken together, these results suggest that both age and explicit attitudes can affect the general tendency to approach physical activity stimuli and to avoid sedentary stimuli.

INFLUENCE OF MIXED FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ON THE APPROACH AND AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR

Article

Dec 2022

The facial expression of perceived people, depending on the modality of emotions, influences the approach and avoidance behavior, providing a quick and evolutionarily appropriate response. The influence of mixed facial expressions on the change in the distance between contacting people remains insufficiently studied. The goal of this study is to determine the defining traits of the behavioral tendency to approach and avoid perceived expressions of mixed emotions. The study was expected to find differences in the moving stimuli with mixed facial expressions compared to the basic one, closer and further. The subjects were presented with a computer version of the visual task of approaching and moving away, in which a delay in the psychomotor reaction was recorded under two conditions: affectively congruent (approaching positive and avoiding negative stimuli) and affectively incongruent (composed in the opposite way). By pressing the corresponding keys, the subjects enlarged or reduced the images, which contributed to the creation of the effect of changing the distance between participants and stimuli. Photographic images of basic emotions (anger, fear, joy) and combined expressions from these were used as stimuli. The sample consisted of 60 people aged from 17 to 24 (Ме=20.5), 50% men. The results indicate that the combined expressions used in the study are approached more slowly than expressions of joy and fear (but not anger), and moved further with the same delay in the psychomotor reaction. Thus, the response to combined expressions depends on clearly visible negative valence signals and is not compensated by a pronounced smile. This indicates the dominance of the main diagnostic feature in the formation of a behavioral tendency to approach and avoid. The results obtained can be used to develop social and emotional competence, providing the possibility of recognition and correction of the approach and avoidance behavior towards perceived people depending on mixed facial expression.

Touchscreen-based approach-avoidance responses to appetitive and threatening stimuli

Article

Mar 2023
J BEHAV THER EXP PSY

Background and objectives Individuals are thought to be biased towards approaching positive stimuli and avoiding negative stimuli. Yet, it is unclear whether this general pattern applies to all stimulus classes or whether biases are more specific. We expected significant approach biases towards two types of positive stimuli, appetitive foods and butterflies; and avoidance biases away from two types of negative stimuli, spoiled foods and spiders. Methods A touchscreen-based Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT), using hand gestures toward or away from stimuli assessed biases. Questionnaires and image ratings assessed individual differences in stimulus evaluations. Results Approach biases for butterflies and appetitive foods were found, the latter being strongest towards individually liked foods. There was no avoidance bias for spoiled foods. An avoidance bias for spiders was found in individuals with elevated spider fear. Limitations Incomplete counterbalancing precluded direct comparison between both positive and negative stimuli. Conclusions Behavioural biases in the touchscreen AAT generally co-vary with individuals’ affective evaluation of the stimuli. Approach biases were elicited by positive stimuli independently of whether they were regularly (foods) or rarely (butterflies) approached in everyday life. This may hint towards a tendency to approach positive stimuli regardless of the specific category, whereas avoidance biases may be more stimulus specific.

Design elements in immersive virtual reality: the impact of object presence on health-related outcomes

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022
INTERNET RES

Purpose Immersive virtual reality (IVR) has been frequently proposed as a promising tool for learning. However, researchers have commonly implemented a plethora of design elements in these IVR systems, which makes the specific aspects of the system that are necessary to achieve beneficial outcomes unclear. Against this background, this study aims to combine the literature on presence with learning theories to propose that the ability of IVR to present 3D objects to users improves the presence of these objects in the virtual environment compared with 2D objects, leading to increased learning performance. Design/methodology/approach To test this study’s hypotheses, the authors conducted a 2 (training condition: approach vs avoid) x 2 (object presence: high vs low) between-subjects laboratory experiment that used IVR with 83 female participants. Findings The results support this study’s hypotheses and show that training with high object presence leads to greater reactions to cues (chocolate cravings) and improved health behaviour (chocolate consumption). Originality/value This study shows that increased object presence leads to unique experiences for users, which help reinforce training effects. Moreover, this work sheds further light on how immersive computer technologies can affect user attitudes and behaviour. Specifically, this work contributes to IVR research by showing that learning effects can be enhanced through an increased degree of object presence.

A psychological flexibility perspective on well-being: Emotional reactivity, adaptive choices, and daily experiences

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

According to psychological flexibility theory, fully experiencing one's emotions, even when they involve negative reactions, can enhance psychological well-being. In pursuit of this possibility, procedures capable of disentangling reaction intensities from reaction durations, in response to affective images, were developed and variations of this paradigm were applied in understanding variations in happiness and adaptive behavior. Consistent with psychological flexibility theory, three studies showed that more intense emotional reactions, irrespective of valence, were associated with higher levels of well-being. Two additional studies showed that happy individuals, relative to less happy individuals, exhibited more functional approach/avoidance behavior in behavior-focused tasks. Together, the results are consistent with the idea that adaptive emotion generation systems are those that flexibly adapt emotion output to concurrent emotion-related stimulation. The program of research adds to our understanding of the relationship between emotion reactivity and well-being while highlighting specific processes through which emotion and well-being interact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Automaticity and Implicit Measures

Chapter

Full-text available

Aug 2022

Bertram Gawronski

Various areas in psychology are interested in whether specific processes underlying judgments and behavior operate in an automatic or non-automatic fashion. In social psychology, valuable insights can be gained from evidence on whether and how judgments and behavior under suboptimal processing conditions differ from judgments and behavior under optimal processing conditions. In personality psychology, valuable insights can be gained from individual differences in behavioral tendencies under optimal and suboptimal processing conditions. The current chapter provides a method-focused overview of different features of automaticity (i.e., unintentionality, efficiency, uncontrollability, unconsciousness), how these features can be studied empirically, and pragmatic issues in research on automaticity. Expanding on this overview, the chapter describes the procedures of extant implicit measures and the value of implicit measures for studying automatic processes in judgments and behavior. The chapter concludes with a discussion of pragmatic issues in research using implicit measures.

A study of approach-avoidance patterns in children in response to emotional stimuli

Article

Full-text available

May 2022

Approach-avoidance patterns are present regardless of our age. How can we refuse a sec�ond piece of cheesecake when we love it or ride a thrill ride with our child when it scares us? Some situations instigate psychophysiological responses and the formation of emotional memory images within very short time frames (Hudson & Johnson, 2021). That why, our ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn can be hindered by the images that feed these patterns. The ability to approach a positive stimulus (e.g., a pleasant food) and retreat from a nega�tive stimulus (e.g., fleeing from danger) is of considerable importance in the survival of the individual (Payen, 2012). However, it is sometimes necessary to resist these natural tenden�cies in order to resolve difficult situations (e.g., approaching a fire for a firefighter) or to stay away from temptation (e.g., staying away from a pack of candy). Researchers have studied these approach-avoidance tendencies in adults faced with stimuli with positive or negative emotional valence (e.g., Alexopoulos & Ric, 2007; Krieglmeyer & Deutsch, 2010), but they remain little explored in children. We therefore consider it important to better understand these tendencies in children, and to compare them with those of young adults. The online-VAAST word paradigm (Aubé et al., 2019) has been shown to be more effective than other methods of exploring approach-avoidance patterns (e.g., motor or visual paradigms). We used it with both of our populations.

Study of postural, physiological and corticospinal responses in empathy for pain and pain anticipation

Thesis

Dec 2015

Giulia Bucchioni

Empathy allows us to understand and react to other people feelings. Regarding empathy for pain, a witness looking at a painful situation may react to other-oriented and prosocial-altruistic behaviors or self-oriented withdrawal responses. The main aim of this thesis was to study approach/avoidance and freezing behavioral manifestations that co-occurring along with both others’ pain observation and during the anticipation of pain. In two perspective-taking tasks, we investigated the influence of the type of relationship between the witness and the target in pain. Results showed that higher pain ratings, lower reactions times (experiment 1) and greater withdrawal avoidance postural responses (experiment 2) were attributed when participants adopted their most loved person perspective. In experiment 3, we analyzed the freezing behavior in the observer’s corticospinal system while subject was observing painful stimuli in first-and third-person perspectives. Results showed the pain-specific freezing effect only pertained to the first-person perspective condition. An empathy for pain interpretation suggests empathy might represent the anticipation of painful stimulation in oneself. In experiment 4 results, we found that the freezing effect present during a painful electrical stimulation was also present in the anticipation of pain. In conclusion, our studies suggest that cognitive perspective-taking mechanisms mainly modulate the empathic response and the most loved person perspective seems to be prevalent. In addition, more basic pain-specific corticospinal modulations are mainly present in the first-person perspective and it seems to not be referred to the empathy components

Effect of health warning labels on motivation towards energy-dense snack foods: Two experimental studies

Article

Full-text available

May 2022
APPETITE

Health warning labels (HWLs) show promise in reducing motivation towards energy-dense snack foods. Understanding the underlying mechanisms could optimise their effectiveness. In two experimental studies in general population samples (Study 1 n = 90; Study 2 n = 1382), we compared the effects of HWLs and irrelevant aversive labels (IALs) on implicit (approach) motivation towards unhealthy snacks, using an approach-avoidance task (Study 1), and a manikin task (Study 2). We also assessed explicit motivation towards unhealthy snacks using food selection tasks. We examined whether labelling effects on motivation arose from the creation of outcome-dependent associations between the food and its health consequences or from simple, non-specific aversive associations. Both label types reduced motivation towards snack foods but only when the label was physically present. HWLs and IALs showed similar effects on implicit motivation, although HWLs reduced explicit motivation more than IALs. Thus, aversive HWLs appear to act both through low level associative mechanisms affecting implicit motivation, and by additionally emphasizing explicit causal links to health outcomes thereby affecting explicitly motivated choice behaviours.

Incidental affective responses to physical effort: a virtual reality study

Preprint

Full-text available

Apr 2022

The role of affective responses to effort in the regulation of physical activity behavior is widely accepted. Yet, to investigate these affective responses during physical activity, most studies used direct self-reported measures that are prone to biases (e.g., social desirability, ability to introspect). Here, to reduce these biases, we used an indirect self-reported measure (i.e., an affect misattribution procedure) to assess the incidental affective response to effort elicited during a physically active performance in 42 healthy young adults. Specifically, participants rated the pleasantness of neutral human faces presented on a virtual environment while cycling at different levels of physical effort. We used this rating as an indicator of the incidental affective response to effort. Results showed that higher perceived effort was associated with lower pleasantness ratings of neutral faces, with this effect only emerging at moderate-to-high levels of perceived effort. Further analyses showed that higher actual effort was also associated with lower pleasantness ratings of neutral faces. Overall, these findings suggest that higher levels of perceived effort are associated with decreased affective responses during physical activity. These results also provide evidence on the feasibility of capturing affective responses during physical activity without relying on direct self-reported measures.

From Ego Depletion to Self-Control Fatigue: A Review of Criticisms Along With New Perspectives for the Investigation and Replication of a Multicomponent Phenomenon

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

The replication crisis in psychology has led to question popular phenomena such as ego depletion, which has been criticized after studies failed to replicate. Here, we describe limitations in the literature that contributed to these failures and suggest how they may be addressed. At the theoretical level, the literature focuses on two out of at least eight identified auxiliary hypotheses. Thus, the majority of the hypotheses related to the three core assumptions of the ego-depletion theory have been overlooked, thereby preventing the rejection of the theory as a whole. At the experimental level, we argue that the low replicability of ego-depletion studies could be explained by the absence of a comprehensive, integrative, and falsifiable definition of self-control, which is central to the concept of ego depletion; by an unclear or absent distinction between ego depletion and mental fatigue, two phenomena that rely on different processes; and by the low validity of the tasks used to induce ego depletion. Finally, we make conceptual and methodological suggestions for a more rigorous investigation of ego depletion, discuss the necessity to take into account its dynamic and multicomponent nature, and suggest using the term self-control fatigue instead.

Control over pathogen exposure and basal immunological activity influence disgust and pathogen-avoidance motivation

Article

Feb 2022
COGNITION EMOTION

Disgust is reasoned to operate in conjunction with the immune system to help protect the body from illness. However, less is known about the factors that impact the degree to which individuals invest in pathogen avoidance (disgust) versus pathogen management (prophylactic immunological activity). Here, we examine the role that one’s control over pathogen contact plays in resolving such investment trade-offs, predicting that (a) those from low control environments will invest less in pathogen-avoidance strategies and (b) investment in each of these two strategies will occur in a compensatory fashion (i.e. they will be traded off with one other). Across four studies, we found support for these predictions, using a variety of manipulations and measures. By providing novel insights into how one’s control over pathogen exposure influences disgust sensitivity and immune system activity, the current research poses an important contribution to the literature on disgust, pathogen avoidance, and the immune system.

Authentic Fear Responses in Virtual Reality: A Mobile EEG Study on Affective, Behavioral and Electrophysiological Correlates of Fear

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2021

Fear is an evolutionary adaption to a hazardous environment, linked to numerous complex behavioral responses, e.g., the fight-or-flight response, suiting their respective environment. However, for the sake of experimental control, fear is mainly investigated under rather artificial laboratory conditions. The latter transform these evolutionary adaptions into artificial responses, like keystrokes. The immersive, multidimensional character of virtual reality (VR) enables realistic behavioral responses, overcoming aforementioned limitations. To investigate authentic fear responses from a holistic perspective, participants explored either a negative or a neutral VR cave. To promote real-life behavior, we built a physical replica of the cave, providing haptic sensations. Electrophysiological correlates of fear-related approach and avoidance tendencies, i.e., frontal alpha asymmetries (FAA) were evaluated. To our knowledge, this is the first study to simultaneously capture complex behavior and associated electrophysiological correlates under highly immersive conditions. Participants in the negative condition exhibited a broad spectrum of realistic fear behavior and reported intense negative affect as opposed to participants in the neutral condition. Despite these affective and behavioral differences, the groups could not be distinguished based on the FAAs for the greater part of the cave exploration. Taking the specific behavioral responses into account, the obtained FAAs could not be reconciled with well-known FAA models. Consequently, putting laboratory-based models to the test under realistic conditions shows that they may not unrestrictedly predict realistic behavior. As the VR environment facilitated nonmediated and realistic emotional and behavioral responses, our results demonstrate VR’s high potential to increase the ecological validity of scientific findings.

Approach–avoidance behavior and motor-specific modulation towards smoking-related cues in smokers

Article

Jul 2023
ADDICTION

Aims: By performing three transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiments, we measured the motor-specific modulatory mechanisms in the primary motor cortex (M1) at both the intercortical and intracortical levels when smokers actively approach or avoid smoking-related cues. Design, Setting and Participants: For all experiments, the design was group (smokers versus non-smokers) × action (approach versus avoidance) × image type (neutral versus smoking-related). The study was conducted at the Shanghai University of Sport, CHN, TMS Laboratory. For experiment 1, 30 non-smokers and 30 smokers; for experiment 2, 16 non-smokers and 16 smokers; for experiment 3, 16 non-smokers and 16 smokers. Measurements: For all experiments, the reaction times were measured using the smok- ing stimulus–response compatibility task. While performing the task, single-pulse TMS was applied to the M1 in experiment 1 to measure the excitability of the corticospinal pathways, and paired-pulse TMS was applied to the M1 in experiments 2 and 3 to mea- sure the activity of intracortical facilitation (ICF) and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) circuits, respectively. Findings: Smokers had faster responses when approaching smoking-related cues (F1,58 = 36.660, P < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.387), accompanied by higher excitability of the corti- cospinal pathways (F1,58 = 10.980, P = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.159) and ICF circuits (F1,30 = 22.187, P<0.001, ηp2=0.425), while stronger SICI effects were observed when they avoided these cues (F1,30 = 10.672, P = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.262). Conclusions: Smokers appear to have shorter reaction times, higher motor-evoked potentials and stronger intracortical facilitation effects when performing approach responses to smoking-related cues and longer reaction times, a lower primary motor cortex descending pathway excitability and a stronger short-interval intracortical inhibition effect when avoiding them.

Towards the self and away from the others: evidence for self-prioritization observed in an approach avoidance task

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Processing advantages arising from self-association have been documented across various stimuli and paradigms. However, the implications of “self-association” for affective and social behavior have been scarcely investigated. The approach-avoidance task (AAT) offers an opportunity to investigate whether the privileged status of the “self” may also translate into differential evaluative attitudes toward the “self” in comparison to “others”. In the current work, we first established shape-label associations using the associative-learning paradigm, and then asked the participants to engage in an approach-avoidance task to test whether attitudinal differences induced on the account of self-association lead to participants having different approach-avoidance tendencies toward the “self-related” stimuli relative to the “other-related” stimuli. We found that our participants responded with faster approach and slower avoidance tendencies for shapes associated with the “self” and slower approach and faster avoidance tendencies for the shapes associated with the “stranger.” These results imply that “self-association” may lead to positive action tendencies toward “self-associated” stimuli, and at the same time lead to neutral or negative attitudes toward stimuli not related to the “self”. Further, as the participants responded to self-associated vs. other-associated stimuli cohorts, these results may also have implications for the modulation of social group-behaviors in favor of those like the self and against those in contrast to the self-group.

Improving Physical Activity Using a Single Personalized Consequence-Based Approach- Avoidance Training: Effects on Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Choices

Preprint

Full-text available

Apr 2023

Objective. Despite their role in health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA), the effectiveness of interventions targeting automatic precursors remains inconsistent. We examined the effects of a single session of ABC training – a personalized and consequence-based approach-avoidance training – on PA, relative to an active control condition and a control condition. Methods. Middle-aged US participants (N = 360, 53% of women) either completed an ABC training (approaching PA in 90% of trials), a typical approach-avoidance training (approaching PA in 90% of trials), or a control training (approaching PA in 50% of trials). Participants selected antecedents (e.g., “When I have little time”) in which personalized choices between PA and sedentary alternatives were likely to occur. In the ABC training only, after approaching PA, self-relevant consequences were displayed (e.g., increase in the health status of the participant’s avatar). Primary outcome was self-reported PA seven days after the intervention. Secondary outcomes included choices for PA (vs sedentary) alternatives in a hypothetical free-choice task, intention, implicit and explicit attitudes toward PA. Results. No significant effect of the ABC intervention on PA was observed, so as on intention and explicit attitudes. However, the ABC intervention was associated with higher odds of choosing PA (vs sedentary) alternatives in the free-choice task and with more positive implicit attitudes toward PA. Conclusions. While the ABC training was not effective at improving PA, its effects on choices and implicit attitudes suggest that this intervention may still have potential. Future studies with intensive trainings and device-based measures of PA remains needed.

The effect of target-related and target-irrelevant novel stimuli on response behaviour

Article

Feb 2023
ACTA PSYCHOL

Novel events catch our attention, which can influence performance of a task. Whether this attentional capture by novelty benefits or impairs performance depends on several factors, such as the relevance of the stimulus, task requirements, and the timing of the event. Additionally, it has been argued that novel stimuli can hold intrinsic reward value, which may directly affect approach motivation, similar to positive valence stimuli. This link between novelty and approach/avoid behaviour has not been investigated directly. Here, we investigated whether stimulus novelty interacts with response behaviour in an approach/avoidance task, and whether these effects depend on the task relevance of novelty and stimulus timing. In experiment 1, participants gave an approach or avoid response dependent on a shape (diamond or square) presented at different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) following a novel or familiar scene (target-irrelevant novelty). In experiment 2, participants had to approach or avoid a novel or familiar image depending on the content (indoor/outdoor; target-related novelty). A shape was presented at different SOA. Results of a linear mixed model showed novelty-induced performance costs as demonstrated by longer RT and lower accuracy when novelty was target-relevant, likely due to attentional lingering at novel images. When images were target-irrelevant, approach but not avoid responses were faster for familiar versus novel images at 200 ms SOA only. Thus, novelty had a differentially pronounced detrimental effect on performance. These observations confirm that processing of novel stimuli generally depends on stimulus relevance, and tentatively suggests that differential processing of novel and familiar images is intensified by motivated approach behaviour.

Bilateral motor cortex functional differences in left-handed approaching-avoiding behavior

Article

Oct 2022
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY

Automatic action tendencies occur at behavioral and neurophysiological levels during task performance with the dominant right hand, with shorter reaction times (RTs) and higher excitability of the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1) during automatic vs. regulated behavior. However, effects associated with the non-dominant left-hand in approaching-avoiding behavior remain unclear. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation during the performance by 18 participants of an approaching-avoiding task using the non-dominant left hand. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over left or right M1 at 150 and 300 ms after the onset of an emotional stimulus. RTs and motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded. Significant automatic action tendencies were observed at the behavioral level. Higher MEP amplitudes were detected 150 ms after stimulus onset from the right hand (non-task hand, corresponding to left M1) during regulated behavior compared with during automatic behavior. However, no significant modulation was found for MEP amplitudes from the left hand (task hand, corresponding to right M1). These findings suggested that left M1 may play a principal role in the early phase of mediating left-handed movement toward an emotional stimulus.

Physical effort biases the perceived pleasantness of neutral faces: A virtual reality study

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022
PSYCHOL SPORT EXERC

The role of affective responses to effort in the regulation of physical activity behavior is widely accepted. Yet, to investigate these affective responses during physical activity, most studies used direct self-reported measures that are prone to biases (e.g., social desirability, ability to introspect). To reduce these biases, we used an indirect measure (i.e., an affect misattribution procedure) that assessed the implicit affective valence elicited by physical activity in 42 healthy young adults. Specifically, participants rated the pleasantness of neutral human faces presented in a virtual environment while cycling at different intensities. We used this rating as an indicator of implicit affective valence. Results showed that higher perceived effort was associated with lower pleasantness ratings of neutral faces, with this effect only emerging at moderate-to-high levels of perceived effort. Further analyses showed that higher actual effort was also associated with lower pleasantness ratings of neutral faces. Overall, these findings suggest that higher levels of perceived effort are associated with decreased affective valence during physical activity. Finally, this study presents a new indirect measure of affective valence during physical activity.

Social Message Account or Processing Conflict Account – Which Processes Trigger Approach/Avoidance Reaction to Emotional Expressions of In- and Out-Group Members?

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2022

Faces are characterized by the simultaneous presence of several evaluation-relevant features, for example, emotional expression and (prejudiced) ethnicity. The social message account (SMA) hypothesizes the immediate integration of emotion and ethnicity. According to SMA, happy in-group faces should be interpreted as benevolent, whereas happy out-group faces should be interpreted as potentially malevolent. By contrast, fearful in-group faces should be interpreted as signaling an unsafe environment, whereas fearful out-group faces should be interpreted as signaling inferiority. In contrast, the processing conflict account (PCA) assumes that each face conveys two rather independent evaluative features, emotion and ethnicity. Thus, stimuli might be either affectively congruent or incongruent, and thereby exert influences on behavior. The article reviews the evidence with regard to the two accounts before reporting an experiment that aims at disentangling them. In an approach/avoidance task (AAT), either happy/fearful faces of German and Turks were presented or happy/fearful faces of young and old persons. There are prejudices against Turk/Middle-eastern persons (in Germany) as well as against old persons. For SMA, the two prejudices are of different type; thus prediction for the AAT diverge for the two group conditions. In contrast, for PCA both group features (i.e., Turk ethnicity and old age) are negative features (in comparison to their counterparts) which are affectively congruent or incongruent to the emotional expression. Hence, the results pattern in the AAT should be comparable for the two group conditions. In accordance with SMA but in contrast to PCA, we found different patterns for the two group conditions.

Avoidance tendencies toward cannabis stimuli in a college sample

Article

Mar 2022

Individuals with addictions often exhibit approach bias, or the relatively automatic action tendency to approach rather than avoid addiction-related stimuli. The current study used a cannabis-Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) to assess approach-avoidance tendencies toward cannabis stimuli among 211 undergraduate college students with varying levels of cannabis use. Frequency and severity of cannabis use was assessed using the Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test - Short Form (CUDIT-R). The sample did not demonstrate a significant approach or avoidance bias toward cannabis stimuli; instead, participants were significantly slower to approach and avoid cannabis stimuli relative to neutral stimuli. Individuals with problematic cannabis use who met criteria for a possible cannabis use disorder (CUD) based on CUDIT-R criteria were significantly slower to avoid but not to approach cannabis stimuli compared to individuals with nonuse and non-problematic use. Moreover, increased frequency and severity of cannabis use was significantly associated with increased reaction times to avoid cannabis stimuli. Findings appear to differ from some previous studies examining approach-avoidance tendencies toward cannabis, suggesting that the role of cognitive biases in cannabis use is complex and should be further investigated.

Examining approach–avoidance responses to facial expressions using a tablet device

Article

Jan 2022

Shinnosuke Ikeda

Approach–avoidance responses to facial expressions have been previously examined, but they are mainly based on contrasting two expression types. However, these examinations are limited; the approach–avoidance response differs depending on the combination of facial expressions. In the current study, the approach–avoidance responses to three expression types were examined using a tablet device. The avoidance response to the anger expression was confirmed, but the approach response to the happy expression was not confirmed. These results indicate that examining approach–avoidance responses using a tablet device is effective and that avoidance responses to angry expressions are robust.

Processus automatiques et activités physiques bénéfiques pour la santé

Article

Jun 2016

The transdiagnostic role of food craving: An application of substance use models

Article

Dec 2021
APPETITE

Food craving is a transdiagnostic process underlying clinically significant disordered eating behaviors and eating disorder diagnoses. However, the lack of literature examining the role of food craving as it relates to the full spectrum of disordered eating behaviors, including restrictive eating and compensatory behaviors, may be due to the traditional definition of food craving as the desire to consume particular foods. Applying motivational models of substance use craving to food craving may help to explain inconsistencies within existing literature. Three motivational models of craving from the substance use literature may be particularly applicable to (1) provide a clear definition of food craving as a motivational process, (2) understand the role of that motivational process as it underlies the full spectrum of disordered eating behavioral patterns, (3) provide insight for the most appropriate ways in which to accurately assess food craving, and (4) establish ways in which food craving may represent a useful motivational process to target in eating disorder treatments. This narrative review describes three models of substance use craving and provides suggestions for utilizing motivational models to understand the transdiagnostic role of food craving as it relates to the full spectrum of disordered eating behaviors in both research and clinical work.

Desired attachment and breakup distress relate to automatic approach of the ex-partner

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2022
J BEHAV THER EXP PSY

Background and objectives Romantic relationship breakups can lead to severe emotional disturbances including major depression. Anxious attachment and desired attachment with the ex-partner are hypothesized to elicit repetitive thought about the breakup and the former partner and attempts to reunite with (i.e. approach) the ex-partner, which fuel breakup distress. Since prior research on this topic has mostly used survey methodology, the study aim was to examine the relations between above-mentioned variables employing a behavioral measure of approach of the ex-partner. Methods Automatic approach-avoidance tendencies toward the former partner were assessed with an Approach Avoidance Task (AAT). Sixty-two students (76% female) moved a manikin towards or away from stimuli pictures (ex-partner, matched stranger, landscape) as fast as possible based on the stimulus frame color (blue, yellow). Participants also completed questionnaires assessing anxious attachment, desired attachment, repetitive thought about the breakup (rumination) and the ex-partner (yearning), and breakup distress (prolonged grief symptoms). Results Anxious attachment related positively to rumination and breakup distress. Desired attachment related positively to yearning, automatic approach bias toward the ex-partner, and breakup distress. Both anxious and desired attachment, rumination, yearning, and approach bias related positively to breakup distress. Limitations The use of a student sample may limit generalizability. A correlational design precludes causal conclusions. Conclusions Together with prior work, results suggests anxious attachment hampers psychological adaptation to a breakup by increasing the use of ruminative coping. Desire to retain an attachment bond with the ex-partner, expressed in yearning and approach of the ex-partner, may also worsen breakup distress.

I Sit But I Don’t Know Why: Investigating The Multiple Precursors Of Leisure-Time Sedentary Behaviors

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2021

Background: Precursors driving leisure-time sedentary behaviors remain poorly investigated, despite their detrimental consequences. This study aimed to investigate the predictive validity of controlled and automatic motivational precursors toward reducing sedentary behaviors and being physically active on leisure-time sedentary behaviors. The influence of demographic, physical, socio-professional, interpersonal, and environmental variables was also examined and compared with the associations of motivational precursors. Methods: 125 adults completed questionnaires measuring controlled motivational precursors (i.e., intentions, perceived competence), demographical (i.e., sex and age), physical (i.e., body mass index), and interpersonal (i.e., number of children) variables. Regarding automatic motivational precursors, habit strength and approach-avoidance tendencies were captured using the Self-Report Behavioral Automaticity Index and a manikin task. Time at work was computed as a socio-professional variable, days of the week and weather conditions were recorded as environmental precursors. Participants wore an accelerometer for 7 days and leisure time was identified using notebooks. Associations between the different precursors and the leisure-time sedentary behaviors were examined in linear mixed effect models. Results: Intention to be physically active and habit strength toward physical activity were negatively associated with leisure-time sedentary behaviors. Sex, body mass index, time at work, number of children, day of the week, and weather conditions were more strongly associated with leisure-time sedentary behaviors. Conclusion: Our findings show that, in comparison with other variables, the influence of motivational precursors on leisure-time sedentary behaviors is limited. This study supports the adoption of a broad-spectrum of precursors when predicting sedentary behaviors.

Generalized Approach/Avoidance Responses to Degraded Affective Stimuli: An Informational Account

Article

Sep 2021
SOC COGNITION

Two studies tested whether affective stimuli presented auditorily spontaneously trigger approach/avoidance reactions toward neutral visual stimuli. Contrary to hypotheses, Exp.1 revealed that when the target was present, participants responded faster after positive (vs. negative) stimuli, and faster to the absence of the target following negative (vs. positive) stimuli, whatever the response modality (i.e., approach/avoidance). Instructions were to approach/avoid stimuli depending on whether a target was presented or not. We proposed that affective stimuli were used in this study as information about the presence/absence of the target. In Exp.2, we replicated the results of Exp.1 when participants responded to the presence/absence of the target, whereas an Approach/Avoidance compatibility effect was observed when each response modality was associated with a target. These results indicate that affective stimuli influence approach/avoidance across perceptual modalities and suggest that the link between affective stimuli and behavioral tendencies could be mediated by informational value of affect.

Cognitive-bias modification intervention to improve physical activity in patients following a rehabilitation programme: Protocol for the randomised controlled IMPACT trial

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2021

Introduction Being physically active is associated with a wide range of health benefits in patients. However, many patients do not engage in the recommended levels of physical activity (PA). To date, interventions promoting PA in patients mainly rely on providing knowledge about the benefits associated with PA to develop their motivation to be active. Yet, these interventions focusing on changing patients’ conscious goals have proven to be rather ineffective in changing behaviours. Recent research on automatic factors (eg, automatic approach tendencies) may provide additional targets for interventions. However, the implementation and evaluation of intervention designed to change these automatic bases of PA are rare. Consequently, little is known about whether and how interventions that target automatically activated processes towards PA can be effective in changing PA behaviours. The Improving Physical Activity (IMPACT) trial proposes to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the effect of a cognitive-bias modification intervention aiming to modify the automatic approach towards exercise-related stimuli on PA among patients. Methods and analysis The IMPACT trial is a single-centre, placebo (sham controlled), triple-blinded, phase 3 randomised controlled trial that will recruit 308 patients enrolled in a rehabilitation programme in the Division of General Medical Rehabilitation at the University Hospital of Geneva (Switzerland) and intends to follow up them for up to 1 year after intervention. Immediately after starting a rehabilitation programme, patients will be randomised (1:1 ratio) to receive either the cognitive-bias modification intervention consisting of a 12-session training programme performed over 3 weeks or a control condition (placebo). The cognitive-bias modification intervention aims to improve PA levels through a change in automatic approach tendencies towards PA and sedentary behaviours. The primary outcome is the sum of accelerometer-based time spent in light-intensity, moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity PA over 1 week after the cognitive-bias modification intervention (in minutes per week). Secondary outcomes are related to changes in (1) automatic approach tendencies and self-reported motivation to be active, (2) physical health and (3) mental health. Sedentary behaviours and self-reported PA will also be examined. The main time point of the analysis will be the week after the end of the intervention. These outcomes will also be assessed during the rehabilitation programme, as well as 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the intervention for secondary analyses. Ethics and dissemination The study will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. This trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of Geneva Canton, Switzerland (reference number: CCER2019-02257). All participants will give an informed consent to participate in the study. Results will be published in relevant scientific journals and be disseminated in international conferences. Trial registration details The clinical trial was registered at the German clinical trials register (reference number: DRKS00023617); Pre-results.

Improving the touchscreen-based food approach-avoidance task: remediated block-order effects and initial findings regarding validity

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2021

Approach biases to foods may explain why food consumption often diverges from deliberate dietary intentions. Yet, the assessment of behavioural biases with the approach-avoidance tasks (AAT) is often unreliable and validity is partially unclear. The present study continues a series of studies that develop a task based on naturalistic approach and avoidance movements on a touchscreen (hand-AAT). In the hand-AAT, participants are instructed to respond based on the food/non-food distinction, thereby ensuring attention to the stimuli. Yet, this implies the use of instruction switches (i.e., ‘approach food – avoid objects’ to ‘avoid food – approach objects’), which introduce order effects. The present study increased the number of instruction switches to potentially minimize order effects, and re-examined reliability. We additionally included the implicit association task (IAT) and several self-reported eating behaviours to investigate the task’s validity. Results replicated the presence of reliable approach biases to foods irrespective of instruction order. Evidence for validity, however, was mixed: biases correlated positively with external eating, increase in food craving and aggregated image valence ratings but not with desire to eat ratings of the individual images considered within participants or the IAT. We conclude that the hand-AAT can reliably assess approach biases to foods that are relevant to self-reported eating patterns.

Examining the Relationship Between Exercise-Related Cognitive Errors, Exercise Schema, and Implicit Associations

Article

Jun 2021

To better understand exercise-related cognitive errors (ECEs) from a dual processing perspective, the purpose of this study was to examine their relationship to two automatic exercise processes. It was hypothesized that ECEs would account for more variance than automatic processes in predicting intentions, that ECEs would interact with automatic processes to predict intentions, and that exercise schema would distinguish between different levels of ECEs. Adults ( N = 136, M age = 29 years, 42.6% women) completed a cross-sectional study and responded to three survey measures (ECEs, exercise self-schema, and exercise intentions) and two computerized implicit tasks (the approach/avoid task and single-category Implicit Association Test). ECEs were not correlated with the two implicit measures; however, ECEs moderated the relationship between approach tendency toward exercise stimuli and exercise intentions. Exercise self-schema were differentiated by ECE level. This study expands our knowledge of ECEs by examining their relationship to different automatic and reflective processes.

Improving the touchscreen-based food approach-avoidance task: remediated block-order effects and initial findings regarding validity

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2021

Theoretical approaches to emotion and its measurement

Chapter

Jan 2021

We hope this chapter will provide an overview on current theoretical approaches to emotion and its measurement, without neglecting their historical roots. Simultaneously, our goal is to bring the major conceptual foundations for the work described in the following chapters. We have grouped theories of emotion in three families, a taxonomy grounded in historical and conceptual reasons that is helpful to grasp theoretical developments in affective sciences, and to systematically present key concepts and theories in the field. Such a classification provides the readers with an organized description of theoretical roots and major conceptual distinctions in affective sciences.

Improving the touchscreen-based food approach-avoidance task: remediated block-order effects and initial findings regarding validity

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2021

Approach biases to foods may explain why food consumption often diverges from deliberate dietary intentions. When cognitive resources are depleted, implicit responses may contribute to overeating and overweight. Yet, the assessment of behavioural biases with the approach-avoidance tasks (AAT) is often unreliable. We previously addressed methodological limitations of the AAT by employing naturalistic approach and avoidance movements on a touchscreen (hand-AAT) and instructing participants to respond based on the food/non-food distinction. In the consistent block, participants were instructed to approach food and avoid objects while in the inconsistent block, participants were instructed to avoid foods and approach objects. Biases were highly reliable but affected by the order in which participants received the two task blocks. In the current study, we aimed to resolve the block order effects by increasing the number of blocks from two to six and validate the hand-AAT with the implicit association task (IAT) and self-reported eating behaviours. We replicated the presence of reliable approach biases to foods and further showed that these were not affected by block order. Evidence for validity was mixed: biases correlated positively with external eating, food craving and aggregated image valence ratings but not with within-participants differences in desire to eat ratings of the images or the IAT. We conclude that hand-AAT can reliably assess approach biases to foods that are relevant to self-reported eating patterns and were not probably confounded by block-order effects.

Touchscreen-based assessment of food approach biases: Investigating reliability and item-specific preferences

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2021

Strong cravings for unhealthy foods and implicit tendencies to approach and consume them constitute threats to physical and mental health in vulnerable populations. Yet, implicit measures of such food approach tendencies have methodological limitations, as existing approach-avoidance tasks (AAT) are often unreliable, require specialized hardware, and do not clarify whether the person or object moves during approach and avoidance. We propose a novel method to measure approach biases: on a touchscreen, participants slide their hand either toward a food item (and away from control images) or away from a food item (and toward control images) in separate blocks. Adequate attention to the stimuli is ensured by the coupling of stimulus category to the required response. We found that this touchscreen-variant of the manikin task yields reliable bias scores when approach and avoidance are defined as movements relative to the stimulus rather than to the body. Compared to control images, we found an approach bias for low-calorie foods but not for high calorie foods. This bias additionally varied on a food-by-food basis depending on the participant’s desire to eat individual food items. Correlations with state and trait cravings were inconclusive. Future research needs to address the order effects that were found, in which participants avoiding foods in the first block showed larger biases than participants approaching food in the first block, likely due to insufficient opportunity to practice the task. Our findings highlight the need for approach bias retraining paradigms to use personalized stimulus sets. The task can enrich the methodological repertoire in eating behaviour research with its relevance for eating disorders, obesity and cognitive bias modification trainings.

Motor compatibility: The bidirectional link between behavior and evaluation

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2003

An Affective Variant of the Simon Paradigm

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1998

In this paper, we introduce an affective variant of the Simon paradigm. Three experiments are reported in which nouns and adjectives with a positive, negative, or neutral affective meaning were used as stimuli. Depending on the grammatical category of the presented word (i.e. noun or adjective), participants had to respond as fast as possible by saying a predetermined positive or negative word. In Experiments 1 and 2, the words POSITIVE and NEGATIVE were required as responses, in Experiment 3, FLOWER and CANCER were used as response words. Despite the fact that participants were explicitly instructed to ignore the affective meaning of the presented words, reaction times were faster when the affective connotation of the presented word and the correct response was the same than when it differed. The results lend further support to the hypothesis that stimulus valence can be processed automatically. We also argue that the affective Simon paradigm can be used as a flexible tool for the study of affective-processing and discuss how other variants of the Simon paradigm can be developed to stimulate research on other aspects of information-processing.

On the generality of the affective Simon effect

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2001

In affective Simon studies, participants are to select between a positive and negative response on the basis of a nonaffective stimulus feature (i.e., relevant stimulus feature) while ignoring the valence of the presented stimuli (i.e., irrelevant stimulus feature). De Houwer and Eelen (1998) showed that the time to select the correct response is influenced by the match between the valence of the response and the (irrelevant) valence of the stimulus. In the affective Simon studies that have been reported until now, only words were used as stimuli and the relevant stimulus feature was always the grammatical category of the words. We report four experiments in which we examined the generality of the affective Simon effect. Significant affective Simon effects were found when the semantic category, grammatical category, and letter-case of words was relevant, when the semantic category of photographed objects was relevant, and when participants were asked to give nonverbal approach or avoidance responses on the basis of the grammatical category of words. Results also showed that the magnitude of the affective Simon effect depended on the nature of the relevant feature.

Comparing measures of attitudes at the functional and procedural level: Analysis and implications

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2009

Jan De Houwer

Movement Direction or Change in Distance? Self and Object Related Approach-Avoidance Motions

Article

Full-text available

May 2008

Based on the conceptualization of approach as a decrease in distance and avoidance as an increase in distance, we predicted that stimuli with positive valence facilitate behavior for either approaching the stimulus (object as reference point) or for bringing the stimulus closer (self as reference point) and that stimuli with negative valence facilitate behavior for withdrawing from the stimulus or for pushing the stimulus away. In Study 1, we found that motions to and from a computer screen where positive and negative words were presented lead to compatibility effects indicative of an object-related frame of reference. In Study 2, we replicated this finding using social stimuli with different evaluative associations (young vs. old persons). Finally, we present evidence that self vs. object reference points can be induced through instruction and thus lead to opposite compatibility effects even when participants make the same objective motion (Study 3).

Affect and action: Towards an event-coding account

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2007

Viewing emotion from an evolutionary perspective, researchers have argued that simple responses to affective stimuli can be triggered without mediation of cognitive processes. Indeed, findings suggest that positively and negatively valenced stimuli trigger approach and avoidance movements automatically. However, affective stimulus-response compatibility phenomena share so many central characteristics with nonaffective stimulus-response compatibility phenomena that one may doubt whether the underlying mechanisms differ. We suggest an "affectively enriched" version of the theory of event coding (TEC) that is able to account for both affective and nonaffective compatibility, and that can account for the observation that both types of compatibility seem to be modulated by goals and intentions. Predictions from the model are tested in an experiment where participants carried out approach and avoidance responses to either the valence or the orientation of emotionally charged pictures. Under affective instruction the positive-approach/negative-avoid mapping yielded faster responses than the positive-avoid/negative-approach mapping, but no such effect was observed under spatial instruction. Conversely, spatial compatibility effects were obtained under spatial, but not under affective instruction. We conclude that affective and nonaffective compatibility effects reflect the same mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)

Implicit Measures: A Normative Analysis and Review

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2009

Implicit measures can be defined as outcomes of measurement procedures that are caused in an automatic manner by psychological attributes. To establish that a measurement outcome is an implicit measure, one should examine (a) whether the outcome is causally produced by the psychological attribute it was designed to measure, (b) the nature of the processes by which the attribute causes the outcome, and (c) whether these processes operate automatically. This normative analysis provides a heuristic framework for organizing past and future research on implicit measures. The authors illustrate the heuristic function of their framework by using it to review past research on the 2 implicit measures that are currently most popular: effects in implicit association tests and affective priming tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Approach and avoidance as action effects

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2008

Numerous studies use arm movements (arm flexion and extension) to investigate the interaction between emotional stimuli and approach/avoidance behaviour. In many experiments, however, these arm movements are ambiguous. Arm flexion can be interpreted either as pulling (approach) or as withdrawing (avoidance). On the contrary, arm extension can be interpreted as reaching (approach) or as pushing (avoidance). This ambiguity can be resolved by regarding approach and avoidance as flexible action plans that are represented in terms of their effects. Approach actions reduce the distance between a stimulus and the self, whereas avoidance actions increase that distance. In this view, action effects are an integral part of the representation of an action. As a result, a neutral action can become an approach or avoidance reaction if it repeatedly results in decreasing or increasing the distance to a valenced stimulus. This hypothesis was tested in the current study. Participants responded to positive and negative words using key-presses. These "neutral" responses (not involving arm flexion or extension) were consistently followed by a stimulus movement toward or away from the participant. Responses to emotional words were faster when the response's effect was congruent with stimulus valence, suggesting that approach/avoidance actions are indeed defined in terms of their outcomes.

On the neural control of social emotional behavior

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2008
SOC COGN AFFECT NEUR

It is known that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is crucially involved in emotion regulation. However, the specific role of the OFC in controlling the behavior evoked by these emotions, such as approach-avoidance (AA) responses, remains largely unexplored. We measured behavioral and neural responses (using fMRI) during the performance of a social task, a reaction time (RT) task where subjects approached or avoided visually presented emotional faces by pulling or pushing a joystick, respectively. RTs were longer for affect-incongruent responses (approach angry faces and avoid happy faces) as compared to affect-congruent responses (approach-happy; avoid-angry). Moreover, affect-incongruent responses recruited increased activity in the left lateral OFC. These behavioral and neural effects emerged only when the subjects responded explicitly to the emotional value of the faces (AA-task) and largely disappeared when subjects responded to an affectively irrelevant feature of the faces during a control (gender evaluation: GE) task. Most crucially, the size of the OFC-effect correlated positively with the size of the behavioral costs of approaching angry faces. These findings qualify the role of the lateral OFC in the voluntary control of social-motivational behavior, emphasizing the relevance of this region for selecting rule-driven stimulus-response associations, while overriding automatic (affect-congruent) stimulus-response mappings.

Rudimentary Determinants of Attitudes. II: Arm Flexion and Extension Have Differential Effects on Attitudes

Article

Full-text available

Aug 1993

In the pain-flexor reflex, arm extension is temporally coupled with the onset of the unconditioned aversive stimulus, whereas flexion is associated with its offset; when retrieving desirable stimuli, arm flexion is more closely coupled temporally to the acquisition or consumption of the desired stimuli than arm extension. It was posited that these contingencies foster an association between arm flexion, in contrast to extension, and approach motivational orientations. Six experiments were conducted to examine this hypothesis. Ideographs presented during arm flexion were subsequently ranked more positively than ideographs presented during arm extension, but only when the Ss' task was to evaluate the ideographs when they were presented initially. Arm flexion and extension were also each found to have discernible attitudinal effects. These results suggest a possible role for nondeclarative memory in attitude formation.

The Theory of Event Coding (TEC): A framework for perception and action planning

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2001

Traditional approaches to human information processing tend to deal with perception and action planning in isolation, so that an adequate account of the perception-action interface is still missing. On the perceptual side, the dominant cognitive view largely underestimates, and thus fails to account for, the impact of action-related processes on both the processing of perceptual information and on perceptual learning. On the action side, most approaches conceive of action planning as a mere continuation of stimulus processing, thus failing to account for the goal-directedness of even the simplest reaction in an experimental task. We propose a new framework for a more adequate theoretical treatment of perception and action planning, in which perceptual contents and action plans are coded in a common representational medium by feature codes with distal reference. Perceived events (perceptions) and to-be-produced events (actions) are equally represented by integrated, task-tuned networks of feature codes--cognitive structures we call event codes. We give an overview of evidence from a wide variety of empirical domains, such as spatial stimulus-response compatibility, sensorimotor synchronization, and ideomotor action, showing that our main assumptions are well supported by the data.

Implicit and Explicit Alcohol-Related Cognitions in Heavy and Light Drinkers

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2002

Implicit and explicit alcohol-related cognitions were measured in 2 dimensions: positive-negative (valence) and arousal-sedation, with 2 versions of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. Schwartz) and related explicit measures. Heavy drinkers (n = 24) strongly associated alcohol with arousal on the arousal IAT (especially men) and scored higher on explicit arousal expectancies than light drinkers (n = 24). On the valence IAT, both light and heavy drinkers showed strong negative implicit associations with alcohol that contrasted with their positive explicit judgments (heavy drinkers were more positive). Implicit and explicit cognitions uniquely contributed to the prediction of 1-month prospective drinking. Heavy drinkers' implicit arousal associations could reflect the sensitized psychomotor-activating response to drug cues, a motivational mechanism hypothesized to underlie the etiology of addictive behaviors.

Understanding and Using the Implicit Association Test: I. An Improved Scoring Algorithm

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2003

In reporting Implicit Association Test (IAT) results, researchers have most often used scoring conventions described in the first publication of the IAT (A.G. Greenwald, D.E. McGhee, & J.L.K. Schwartz, 1998). Demonstration IATs available on the Internet have produced large data sets that were used in the current article to evaluate alternative scoring procedures. Candidate new algorithms were examined in terms of their (a) correlations with parallel self-report measures, (b) resistance to an artifact associated with speed of responding, (c) internal consistency, (d) sensitivity to known influences on IAT measures, and (e) resistance to known procedural influences. The best-performing measure incorporates data from the IAT's practice trials, uses a metric that is calibrated by each respondent's latency variability, and includes a latency penalty for errors. This new algorithm strongly outperforms the earlier (conventional) procedure.

Emotion and Motivation I: Defensive and Appetitive Reactions in Picture Processing

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2001

Emotional reactions are organized by underlying motivational states--defensive and appetitive--that have evolved to promote the survival of individuals and species. Affective responses were measured while participants viewed pictures with varied emotional and neutral content. Consistent with the motivational hypothesis, reports of the strongest emotional arousal, largest skin conductance responses, most pronounced cardiac deceleration, and greatest modulation of the startle reflex occurred when participants viewed pictures depicting threat, violent death, and erotica. Moreover, reflex modulation and conductance change varied with arousal, whereas facial patterns were content specific. The findings suggest that affective responses serve different functions-mobilization for action, attention, and social communication-and reflect the motivational system that is engaged, its intensity of activation, and the specific emotional context.

Automatic Affective Evaluation Does Not Automatically Predispose for Arm Flexion and Extension.

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2004

Affect may have the function of preparing organisms for action, enabling approach and avoidance behavior. M. Chen and J. A. Bargh (1999) suggested that affective processing automatically resulted in action tendencies for arm flexion and extension. The crucial question is, however, whether automaticity of evaluation was actually achieved or whether their results were due to nonautomatic, conscious processing. When faces with emotional expressions were evaluated consciously, similar effects were obtained as in the M. Chen and J. A. Bargh study. When conscious evaluation was reduced, however, no action tendencies were observed, whereas affective processing of the faces was still evident from affective priming effects. The results suggest that tendencies for arm flexion and extension are not automatic consequences of automatic affective information processing.

Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Social Behavior

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2004

This article describes a 2-systems model that explains social behavior as a joint function of reflective and impulsive processes. In particular, it is assumed that social behavior is controlled by 2 interacting systems that follow different operating principles. The reflective system generates behavioral decisions that are based on knowledge about facts and values, whereas the impulsive system elicits behavior through associative links and motivational orientations. The proposed model describes how the 2 systems interact at various stages of processing, and how their outputs may determine behavior in a synergistic or antagonistic fashion. It extends previous models by integrating motivational components that allow more precise predictions of behavior. The implications of this reflective-impulsive model are applied to various phenomena from social psychology and beyond. Extending previous dual-process accounts, this model is not limited to specific domains of mental functioning and attempts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms.

The Concept of Validity

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2004

This article advances a simple conception of test validity: A test is valid for measuring an attribute if (a) the attribute exists and (b) variations in the attribute causally produce variation in the measurement outcomes. This conception is shown to diverge from current validity theory in several respects. In particular, the emphasis in the proposed conception is on ontology, reference, and causality, whereas current validity theory focuses on epistemology, meaning, and correlation. It is argued that the proposed conception is not only simpler but also theoretically superior to the position taken in the existing literature. Further, it has clear theoretical and practical implications for validation research. Most important, validation research must not be directed at the relation between the measured attribute and other attributes but at the processes that convey the effect of the measured attribute on the test scores.

Self-Control in Action: Implicit Dispositions Toward Goals and Away From Temptations.

Article

Full-text available

May 2006

Five studies examined whether, in self-control dilemmas, individuals develop an implicit disposition to approach goals and avoid temptations, psychologically as well as physically. Using a method developed by A. K. Solarz (1960; see also K. L. Duckworth, J. A. Bargh, M. Garcia, & S. Chaiken, 2002), the authors assessed the time for pulling and pushing a lever in response to goal- and temptation-related stimuli (e.g., studying and partying). The results show that individuals offset the influence of tempting activities by automatically avoiding these stimuli (faster pushing responses) and by approaching stimuli related to an overarching goal (faster pulling responses). These implicit self-control dispositions varied as a function of the magnitude of the self-control conflict, itself defined by how strongly individuals were attracted to temptations and held the longer term goal. These dispositions were further shown to play a role in successful self-control.

Emotional state and initiating cue alter central and peripheral motor processes

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2007

Evidence indicates that voluntary and involuntary movements are altered by affective context as well as the characteristics of an initiating cue. The purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of central and peripheral mechanisms to this phenomenon. During the presentation of pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and blank images, participants (N = 33) responded to auditory stimuli (startle, 107 dB startle or 80 dB tone) by initiating a bimanual isometric contraction of the wrist and finger extensor muscles. Analyses of electromyography and force measures supported the hypothesis that exposure to unpleasant images accelerates central processing times and increases the gradient of slope of peripheral movement execution. In addition, startle cues as compared with tone cues accelerated and magnified all temporal and amplitude indices. Collectively, these findings have noteworthy implications for (a) those seeking to facilitate the speed and force of voluntary movement (i.e., movement rehabilitation), (b) understanding the higher incidence of motor difficulty in individuals with affective disorders, and (c) those seeking to regulate emotional input so as to optimize the quality of intended movements.

Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences

Book

Jan 1988

J. Cohen

On the generality of the affective Simon effect

Article

Jan 2001

Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix

Article

Jan 1980

JH STEIGER

In a variety of situations in psychological research, it is desirable to be able to make statistical comparisons between correlation coefficients measured on the same individuals. For example, an experimenter may wish to assess whether two predictors correlate equally with a criterion variable. In another situation, the experimenter may wish to test the hypothesis that an entire matrix of correlations has remained stable over time. The present article reviews the literature on such tests, points out some statistics that should be avoided, and presents a variety of techniques that can be used safely with medium to large samples. Several illustrative numerical examples are provided.

The emotion probe

Article

Jan 1995
AM PSYCHOL

P.J. Lang

Appetitive and defensive motivation is the substrate of emotion

Article

Jan 2008

Understanding and Using the Implicit Association Test: I. An Improved Scoring Algorithm

Article

Aug 2003

In reporting Implicit Association Test (IAT) results, researchers have most often used scoring conventions described in the first publication of the IAT (A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998). Demonstration IATs available on the Internet have produced large data sets that were used in the current article to evaluate alternative scoring procedures. Candidate new algorithms were examined in terms of their (a) correlations with parallel self-report measures, (b) resistance to an artifact associated with speed of responding, (c) internal consistency, (d) sensitivity to known influences on IAT measures, and (e) resistance to known procedural influences. The best-performing measure incorporates data from the IAT's practice trials, uses a metric that is calibrated by each respondent's latency variability, and includes a latency penalty for errors. This new algorithm strongly outperforms the earlier (conventional) procedure.

Handbuch Deutschsprachiger Wortnormen

Book

Jan 1994

Eine Normierung unterschiedlicher Aspekte der evaluativenBewertung von 92 Substantiven

Article

Mar 1999

Zusammenfassung: Die evaluative Komponente von Einstellungen ist in vielen sozialpsychologischen Forschungsfeldern von Bedeutung. Um fur zukunftige Untersuchungen in diesem Bereich eine normierte Skalierung unterschiedlicher Aspekte der evaluativen Bewertung von Einstellungsobjekten bereitzustellen, wurde 72 Probanden die deutsche Ubersetzung einer in der Einstellungsforschung bereits haufig verwendeten und standardisierten Menge von 92 Substantiven zur Beurteilung vorgelegt. Erhoben wurde neben der Wortlange und der Worthaufigkeit die evaluative Bewertung auf einer bipolaren Skala, getrennte Ratings der Positivitat und der Negativitat auf unipolaren Skalen, zwei Indizes der Ambivalenz, der Prozentsatz von «positiv»-Antworten bei einer binaren evaluativen Entscheidung sowie die mittlere Reaktionszeit bei der evaluativen Entscheidung. Die vollstandigen Ergebnisse der Normierung werden in einem Anhang wiedergegeben.

Multiple Processes by Which Attitudes Guide Behavior: The MODE Model as an Integrative Framework

Article

Jul 1990
ADV EXP SOC PSYCHOL

Russell H Fazio

The chapter presents the two very different basic processes that link attitudes and behavior, along with variants that amount to a mixture of the essentials of each process. Conditions that promote one process or the other also are discussed in the chapter. This discussion of mixed models illustrates the complexity of the role of spontaneous and deliberative processing to understand the manner in which attitudes influence behavior. The basic difference between the two types of models of the attitude-behavior process centers on the extent to which deciding on a particular course of action involves conscious deliberation about a spontaneous reaction to one's perception of the immediate situation. An individual may analyze the costs and benefits of a particular behavior and, in so doing, deliberately reflect on the attitudes relevant to the behavioral decision. These attitudes may serve as one of possibly many dimensions that are considered in arriving at a behavior plan, which may then be enacted.

Latency of instrumental responses as a function of compatibility with the meaning of eliciting verba

Article

A. K. Solarz

A Note On Negative Reliabilities

Article

Jul 1954
EDUC PSYCHOL MEAS

Reliabilität und Validität dreier Instrumente zur Messung von Angst vor Spinnen (Reliability and validity of German versions of three instruments measuring fear of spiders)

Article

Jul 2002

Es wird über die Gütekriterien und Faktorenstrukturen dreier Instrumente zur Messung von Angst vor Spinnen berichtet. Der „Spinnenphobie-Fragebogen (SPF)“ und der „Fragebogen zur Angst vor Spinnen (FAS)“ sind Übersetzungen englischsprachiger, mehrfaktorieller Fragebögen. Beim „Spinnenangst-Screening (SAS)“ handelt es sich um eine Neuentwicklung mit nur vier Items zum möglichst ökonomischen Screening großer Stichproben. Alle drei Instrumente zeigten gute bis sehr gute Reliabilitätswerte, sowohl bezüglich der internen Konsistenz als auch der Retest-Reliabilität. Auch die Konstruktvaliditäten und die Kriteriumsvaliditäten erwiesen sich als sehr gut. Verwendungsempfehlungen für das Screening und die beiden Fragebögen werden gegeben. We are reporting the reliablity, validity, and factor structure of three instruments designed to measure fear of spiders. The Spider Phobia Questionnaire („Spinnenphobie-Fragebogen“, SPF) and the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire („Fragebogen zur Angst vor Spinnen“, FAS) are translations of English questionnaires. The Fear of Spiders Screening („Spinnenangst-Screening“, SAS) is a new four-item questionnaire designed for efficient screenings of large samples. The three instruments showed good to very good reliability, as measured by internal consistency and retest reliability. Construct validity and criterion-oriented validity were very good as well. We make suggestions for specific uses of the two questionnaires and the screening.

Reliability and validity of German versions of three instruments measuring fear of spiders

Article

Jan 2002

We are reporting the reliablity, validity, and factor structure of three instruments designed to measure fear of spiders. The Spider Phobia Questionnaire („Spinnenphobie-Fragebogen“, SPF) and the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire („Fragebogen zur Angst vor Spinnen“, FAS) are translations of English questionnaires. The Fear of Spiders Screening („SpinnenangstScreening“, SAS) is a new four-item questionnaire designed for efficient screenings of large samples. The three instruments showed good to very good reliability, as measured by internal consistency and retest reliability. Construct validity and criterion-oriented validity were very good as well. We make suggestions for specific uses of the two questionnaires and the screening.

Tests for Comparing Elements of a Correlation Matrix

Article

Mar 1980

James H Steiger

In psychological research, it is desirable to be able to make statistical comparisons between correlation coefficients measured on the same individuals. For example, an experimenter (E) may wish to assess whether 2 predictors correlate equally with a criterion variable. In another situation, the E may wish to test the hypothesis that an entire matrix of correlations has remained stable over time. The present article reviews the literature on such tests, points out some statistics that should be avoided, and presents a variety of techniques that can be used safely with medium to large samples. Several numerical examples are provided. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Eine Normierung unterschiedlicher Aspekte der evaluativen Bewertung von 92 Substantiven [A normative study on different aspects of the evaluation of 92 nouns].

Article

Comparing measures of approach-avoidance behaviour: The manikin task vs. two versions of the joystick task

Abstract

No full-text available