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Frustration and Conflict: Approach-Approach, Approach-Avoidance01:20

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Frustration occurs when people are obstructed or prevented from achieving a desired goal or fulfilling a perceived need. For example, when someone's input is ignored in a discussion, it can lead to feelings of frustration. Conflict, however, arises from opposing interests, goals, or actions. Conflicts can take various forms based on the nature of these opposing desires or goals.
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Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
09:00

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Published on: October 3, 2020

Time pressure undermines performance more under avoidance than approach motivation.

Marieke Roskes1, Andrew J Elliot, Bernard A Nijstad

  • 1Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Guilford Glazer Faculty for Business and Management, Beer Sheva, Israel. mroskes@som.bgu.ac.il

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|April 5, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Time pressure impairs performance most for avoidance-motivated individuals. This effect holds across various tasks, suggesting avoidance motivation should be minimized under time constraints for better outcomes.

Keywords:
avoidance motivationcognitive loadcognitive resourcesperformancetime pressure

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Motivation Studies

Background:

  • Self-regulation involves managing goals and behaviors.
  • Avoidance motivation, a key aspect of self-regulation, directs individuals away from undesirable outcomes.
  • Time pressure is a common environmental factor that can impact performance.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interaction between avoidance motivation and time pressure on task performance.
  • To determine if this interaction is task-dependent.
  • To explore the role of stress-related emotions in mediating this effect.

Main Methods:

  • Four experiments were conducted to test the core hypothesis.
  • Participants were categorized based on their motivation (avoidance vs. other).
  • Performance was measured across three distinct task types under varying time pressures.

Main Results:

  • Performance was significantly undermined by time pressure specifically for individuals with high avoidance motivation.
  • This effect was consistent across tasks, regardless of their suitability for avoidance-motivated processing.
  • No evidence was found to suggest that stress-related emotions were the primary driver of this performance decrement.

Conclusions:

  • Avoidance motivation exacerbates performance decrements under time pressure.
  • The detrimental effect of avoidance motivation in time-pressured situations is robust across different task types.
  • It is advisable to minimize avoidance motivation in time-sensitive contexts to optimize performance.