Approach, avoidance, and affect: a meta-analysis of approach-avoidance tendencies in manual reaction time tasks.

ABSTRACT: Approach action tendencies toward positive stimuli and avoidance tendencies from negative stimuli are widely seen to foster survival. Many studies have shown that approach and avoidance arm movements are facilitated by positive and negative affect, respectively. There is considerable debate whether positively and negatively valenced stimuli prime approach and avoidance movements directly (i.e., immediate, unintentional, implicit, automatic, and stimulus-based), or indirectly (i.e., after conscious or non-conscious interpretation of the situation). The direction and size of these effects were often found to depend on the instructions referring to the stimulus object or the self, and on explicit vs. implicit stimulus evaluation. We present a meta-analysis of 29 studies included for their use

SUBMITTER: Phaf RH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4021119 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature