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Avoidance-avoidance conflict refers to a psychological situation where a person must choose between two or more unpleasant alternatives. These conflicts are particularly stressful because neither option is desirable. This dilemma is often expressed in sayings like "caught between a rock and a hard place" or "between the devil and the deep blue sea." For instance, individuals who fear dental procedures may find themselves torn between enduring a painful toothache or facing the...
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A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats
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Stimulus conflict triggers behavioral avoidance.

David Dignath1, Andreas B Eder2

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070, Würzburg, Germany. dignath.david@gmail.com.

Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience
|May 2, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Conflict between stimuli, not responses, triggers avoidance motivation. This study found that experiencing conflict increases the motivation to avoid its source, even with novel stimuli.

Keywords:
Anterior cingulate cortexApproach–avoidance motivationCognitive controlStimulus conflict versus response conflict

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Decision Making

Background:

  • Conflict-monitoring theory posits that cognitive conflict is an aversive event motivating avoidance.
  • Previous research has not clearly distinguished between stimulus conflict and response conflict in triggering avoidance.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether cognitive conflict is associated with avoidance motivation.
  • To determine whether stimulus conflict or response conflict is the primary driver of avoidance tendencies.

Main Methods:

  • Participants completed a color Stroop task to induce cognitive conflict.
  • A subsequent motivation test assessed approach and avoidance behaviors towards conflict stimuli using lever movements.
  • Five experiments manipulated conflict types and tested generalization of avoidance.

Main Results:

  • Stroop-conflict stimuli significantly increased avoidance responses and the speed of avoidance.
  • The proportion of response conflict did not influence avoidance motivation.
  • Avoidance was observed even for novel conflict stimuli and after an unrelated task.

Conclusions:

  • Stimulus conflict, rather than response conflict, is sufficient to elicit an avoidance motivation.
  • Findings support and extend the conflict-monitoring theory by specifying the type of conflict that drives avoidance.