The Effect of the Motivational Dimension of Affect on approach-avoidance behaviors

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2016, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (5) : 1026-1032.

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PDF(779 KB)
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2016, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (5) : 1026-1032.

The Effect of the Motivational Dimension of Affect on approach-avoidance behaviors

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Abstract

Abstract Under the circumstance when individuals consciously process the Stimulate emotional valence, the"Affective Simon effect" appears.( "Affective Simon effect"means that positive emotions of individuals facilitate approach behaviors, and negative emotions facilitate avoidance behaviors). Whereas individuals unconsciously process it, the effect does not appears (Roelofs et al,2009;Rotteveel et al,2004;). Two theories explain the phenomenon above which are the Motivational Orientation Theory and the Theory of Event Coding(TEC). The differences of these two theories are their empirical research paradigm and whether they are processed consciously or not. Also, the empirical researches on the Approach-avoidance behaviors are rare. In this study, we designed 2 experiments based on Gable and Harmon-Jones’ Motivational Dimension Model. By improving the “manikin task” paradigm and use it after the improvement, the effect of different emotional valence on the approach-avoidance behaviors could be observed. Experiment 1 is divided into 2 steps. There are 36 college students, including 15 males and 21 females, participated into step 1. These students are treated with the conscious process, which is the approach-avoidance react to emotional valence, so that we could observe whether there is the compatibility effect of approach-avoidance("Affective Simon effect"). There are 40 college students, including 19 males and 21 females, participated into step 2. These students are treated with the unconscious process, which is the approach-avoidance react to pictures of emotion with people in it or not, so that we could observe whether there is the compatibility effect of approach-avoidance("Affective Simon effect"). In Experiment 2, there are 31 participants, including 13 male and 18 female college students. The purpose of Experiment 2 is to observe the effect of different motivation intensity of emotion on the approach-avoidance behaviors. It demonstrated that,in the "manikin task"paradigm, under the circumstance when individuals unconsciously process it, by changing the manikin into photos of the participants, they take approach behaviors more rapidly than avoidance behaviors when looking at positive pictures of emotions, whereas they take avoidance behaviors more rapidly than approach behaviors when looking at negative ones. On the other hand, under the circumstance when individuals consciously process it, they take approach behaviors more rapidly than avoidance behaviors when looking at positive pictures of emotions, whereas they take avoidance behaviors more rapidly than approach behaviors when looking at negative ones (the shorter reaction time). Moreover, they take approach behaviors more rapidly under the condition that the positive pictures of emotions are of higher motivational intensities than they do under the condition that those are of lower motivational intensities, whereas they take avoidance behaviors more rapidly under the condition that the negative pictures of emotions are of higher motivational intensities than they do under the condition that those are of lower motivational intensities (the shorter reaction time). The results of the experiments indicate that: (1)The improved “manikin task” paradigm observes the effect of emotions on the approach-avoidance behaviors on a better way. (2) In either way, the conscious and unconscious process to pictures of emotion both result in the compatibility effect of approach-avoidance("Affective Simon effect"), which preferably solved the dispute between the theory of Motivational Orientation and the Theory of Event Coding. (3) Compared with the positive emotions with lower motivational intensity, the one with higher motivational intensity has higher facilitation to approach behaviors. Compared with the negative emotions with lower motivational intensity, the one with higher motivational intensity has higher facilitation to avoidance behaviors.

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The Effect of the Motivational Dimension of Affect on approach-avoidance behaviors[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2016, 39(5): 1026-1032
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