Approach and Avoidance motivation are two of the oldest psychological concepts of behavior. Whereas approach motivation corresponds to the strong urge to come close to an object, state or person (e.g., during states of sexual attraction), avoidance motivation corresponds to the strong urge to avoid a specific situation (e.g., evade a dangerous situation). This dissertation deals with the electroencephalographic (EEG) markers of approach and avoidance motivation, assessed using event-related-potentials and brain oscillations in a low frequency band (alpha band). The first manuscript shows a left hemispheric processing advantage for approach-related stimuli. Specifically, we report a reduction in the alpha band (as an inverse maker for cortical activity) for erotic, but not for control pictures. Notably, we are the first to report alpha-asymmetries using an event-related design. In the second manuscript we describe evidence (a) for separating approach motivation from the affective dimensions of valence and arousal and (b) for an enhanced attention-related early EEG amplitude (P1 component) only for approach-related but not for control pictures. Up to our knowledge, we are the first to associate the P1 component with approach motivation. In the third manuscript we report an enlarged P1 component for increased avoidance motivation, as measured by the negative affect scale of the German Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Krohne, Egloff, Kohlmann, & Tausch, 1996). In more detail, state negative affect correlated positively with the P1 component, as a marker of increased selective attention. As far as we know, no study ever showed that state negative affect has an influence on attention. Therefore, we consider these findings regarding previous findings on trait negative affect, specifically on anxiety and phobia. All findings are discussed in the context of established views and models, such as Personality Systems Interaction (PSI) theory, hypervigilance theory, wanting versus liking and are also integrated into the findings from neuroimaging studies.

Research on healthy eating motivation has shown that people who are autonomously motivated tend to engage in healthier eating behaviours than people with controlled forms of motivation (Ng et al., 2012; Verstuyf et al., 2012). However, healthy eating requires both trying to eat healthy foods (i.e., approach goals) and trying to avoid unhealthy foods (i.e., avoidance goals), and previous research on the association between motivation and approach-avoidance eating goals is mixed (Harrison et al., 2011; Otis & Pelletier, 2008). In the current study, we explored the relationship between motivation and approach-avoidance goals using a 21-day daily diary design. Our findings indicated that approach goals were more difficult than avoidance goals and that higher relative autonomous motivation was associated with greater approach goal success, but not avoidance goal success. We also investigated the relationship between goal specificity, the temporal scope of approach-avoidance goals, and goal success/failure. Our findings are consistent with previous research on motivation and goal difficulty (Aitken et al., 2016; Green-Demers et al., 1997), but our approach-avoidance goal difficulty findings warrant further investigation. / Graduate / 2018-06-11

United States post-secondary education continues to see an increase in Hispanic enrollment, particularly those of Mexican heritage. The present study was designed to examine this population’s experience of stress, anxiety and academic approach-avoidance conflict. Data were collected at North Texas postsecondary institutions. Participants (N = 197) completed an online survey including a Picture Story Exercise (PSE), open-ended responses to hypothetical scenarios, and self-report measures. The current study utilized a mixed-method approach integrating content analysis measures and self-reports. Results indicated that anxiety symptoms expressed to academic, familial, and minority social situations differed, partial η2=.39; with the academic scenario including the highest and minority social scenario the lowest anxiety. Results suggested that Mexican-American college students may express cognitive and affective symptoms of anxiety more frequently than physical symptoms on scenarios but not on self-report scales (Personality Assessment Inventory Anxiety; PAI Anxiety). PSE responses suggested that Conflict and Drive for Goal Orientation were frequent among this sample. Academic Total Anxiety and Academic Physical Anxiety related positively to PSE Conflict, while Academic Cognitive Anxiety related negatively to PSE Positive Outcomes. Exploratory models predicting PSE variables from Academic Anxiety and PAI Anxiety were inconclusive but suggested that gender accounted for significant variance in PSE scores.

Whilst previous research has explored women's experiences of disclosing symptoms of postnatal depression (PND) to health professionals, very little qualitative research exists on women's experiences of disclosing to people in their personal support networks. Research has shown that some mothers with PND find it difficult to disclose to professionals and prefer to seek support from partners, family and friends. Aim: The current study aimed to explore the overall process mothers go through to disclose PND - to people with whom they have personal relationships, as well as health professionals. Method: Five women who experienced and disclosed PND participated in semi-structured interviews. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: The analysis produced four super-ordinate themes: 'Trying to cope whilst making sense of experiences', 'Deciding whether to disclose: Facilitative and inhibiting factors', 'The two-way interpersonal nature of disclosure', 'Disclosure as part of a transformative process'. Conclusions: This study highlighted the influence of internalised expectations of motherhood and stigma surrounding PND on how mothers try to cope with their initial symptoms and on their decisions about whether or not to disclose. The participants described a cautious approach to disclosure in which they had to deal with setbacks. Consequences of disclosing were considered alongside how the disclosure process was influenced by recovery from PND.

The current research explored how one’s motivational focus and political orientation may interact to produce cognitive rigidity. Past literature provides evidence for associations between approach-based orientation and cognitive flexibility and between avoidance-based motives and cognitive rigidity (e.g., Cacioppo, Priester, & Berntson, 1993; Friedman & Förster, 2005; Förster, Friedman, Özelsel & Denzler, 2006, Isen & Daubman, 1984; Mikulincer, Kedem & Paz, 1990). Further, research on political orientation suggests a strong association between conservatism and cognitive rigidity (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). Can approach/avoidance motivation help explain this link between political orientation and rigidity? To answer this question, we manipulated approach/avoidance orientation using primes that focused individuals on what they should do versus what they should not do; there was also a no-prime control group. The cognitive rigidity task involved categorizing prototypic and non-prototypic items. For each item, participants provided goodness of fit ratings and discrete category judgment of whether the item was a member of the category (i.e., “yes” or “no”). Cognitive rigidity was operationalized as greater exclusion of non-prototypic items from a category. We found approach/avoidance motivation and political orientation significantly interacted to predict cognitive rigidity. An avoidance prime produced lower goodness of fit ratings and more “no” category membership decisions for political conservatives, but not political liberals. There were no differences across groups for the approach prime. These findings suggest that conservatives’ cognitive rigidity may be attributable to their greater avoidance motivation; conservatives appear to be sensitive to negative outcomes, and when these are cued, cognitive rigidity increases.

In this dissertation, two exemplar-based models of categorization, the General Context Model (GCM) and the Exemplar Based Random Walk model (EBRW), were used to describe between-group categorization differences in artificial and natural language categories. Prior research has shown that political Conservatives in avoidance mode are more exclusive categorizers of natural language category members than Conservatives in approach mode, but this effect was absent for Liberals (Rock & Janoff-Bulman, 2010). In Experiment 1, experimenter-generated stimuli were used to show that the EBRW could account for between-group differences in categorization decisions. In Experiment 2, the data collected by Rock and Janoff-Bulman were used to develop techniques allowing the GCM to account for between-group differences in natural language categorization decisions. Experiment 3 extends these methods to allow the EBRW to account for between-group differences in natural language categorization decisions. Across these experiments, the models identify between-group differences in determining similarity, bias to give an "in-the-category" decision, and the amount of information required to make a categorization decision. Techniques for modeling natural language categorization decisions are discussed.

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The purpose of this study is to explore the differences within specific temperament traits on emotional processing bias. Participants with extremes in temperament traits Harm Avoidance and Novelty Seeking were categorised and their performance on a computerised neuropsychological test battery was investigated. First year psychology students at a residential university in South Africa were invited to participate in the original study. Processing of the data yielded a realised sample of 431 participants who completed the Emotions battery, which comprised of four tasks. The results show that processing of affective valence varies according to individual differences within specific temperament traits. The findings suggest a negative emotion processing bias in the High HA group in comparison to the low HA group. Furthermore, the impulsive and extroverted High NS group show an increased ability to process emotional faces in comparison to the low NS group. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of putative risk factors for psychopathological disorders. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Psychology / unrestricted

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Данная статья посвящена исследованию психологических коррелятов перфекционизма у преподавателей вузов. Перфекционизм рассматривается как сложный многокомпонентный феномен, проявляющийся в стремлении субъекта к совершенству во всех аспектах своей жизни, который может выступать в качестве психологического ресурса, способствующего профессиональному развитию и самореализации. На основе работ отечественных и зарубежных авторов выделены характеристики перфекционизма, способствующие благоприятному протеканию процесса самосовершенствования, к которым относится самоактуализация, мотивация достижения и самоотношение. В эмпирическом исследовании с помощью корреляционного анализа изучена связь перфекционизма с данными психологическими характеристиками на выборке преподавателей вузов. Показано, что перфекционизм и отдельные его составляющие (ориентированный на себя, ориентированный на других и социально предписанный перфекционизм) положительно связаны с мотивацией достижения успеха при отсутствии связи с мотивацией избегания неудач и имеют отрицательную связь с самоактуализацией и самоотношением. На основе полученных данных делается вывод, что перфекционизм у преподавателей вузов не способствует полной реализации в сфере их профессиональной деятельности, а также не выступает в качестве психологического ресурса для развития личности и самосовершенствования. / The article is devoted to the study of psychological correlates of perfectionism of university teachers. Perfectionism is viewed upon as a complex multi-component phenomenon manifested in the subject’s aspiration to excellence in all aspects of their life that can act as a psychological resource promoting professional development and self-realization. The major characteristics of perfectionism, ensuring a favorable course of the process of self-improvement, including self-actualization, achievement motivation and self-attitude, have been worked out on the basis of researches of home and foreign authors. The empirical study, undertaken by the authors using a correlation analysis, examines the relationship between perfectionism and the given psychological characteristics on a sample of university teachers. The study shows that perfectionism and its components (self-oriented, socially-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism) are positively correlated with motivation for achievement and absence of motivation to avoid failure, and have a negative relation with self-actualization and self-attitude. As a result, it is concluded that perfectionism of university teachers is not conducive to complete realization in the sphere of their professional activity and does not act as a psychological resource for personal development and self-improvement.