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Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations
Published on: September 16, 2015
Anxious uncertainty and reactive approach motivation (RAM)
Ian McGregor1, Kyle Nash, Nikki Mann
1Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ianmc@yorku.ca
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|June 23, 2010
Summary
Anxious uncertainty threats trigger reactive approach motivation (RAM). This motivation, linked to personal ideals, influences reactions to threats, impacting areas from prejudice to aggression.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Background:
- Threat and defense literature often examines reactions to uncertainty.
- Anxious uncertainty poses a significant psychological challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the link between anxious uncertainty threats and reactive approach motivation (RAM).
- To explore the mediating role of personal idealism in this relationship.
- To examine how personal ideals influence responses to threats.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted using academic and relational anxious uncertainty threats.
- Measures included behavioral neuroscience, implicit assessments of approach motivation, and analysis of personal projects.
- Study 4 manipulated the salience of personal ideals.
Main Results:
- Anxious uncertainty threats consistently elicited RAM across studies.
- The effect of relational threats on approach-motivated projects was mediated by project idealism.
- Heightened salience of personal ideals amplified the effect of threats on implicit approach motivation.
Conclusions:
- Results support a reactive approach motivation (RAM) framework for understanding idealistic and ideological threat responses.
- Findings suggest RAM can explain diverse social and clinical phenomena, including prejudice, meaning-making, and aggression.
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