Psychology Commons^™

The Right Approach To Success : Approach And Avoidance Motivation In Anticipatory Self-Control, Ellen O'Malley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Self-control success often requires considerable effort in moments of temptation. The current research examines the effectiveness of self-control strategies based on individual differences in self-regulatory motivation. Although self-control appears to come easier to those who are avoidance-motivated rather than approach-motivated, this may be due to the conditions under which self-control is needed and tested. Specifically, the temporal context of an anticipated selfcontrol conflict (i.e., if it is near or distant) may be more instrumental for approach-motivated self-regulation relative to avoidance-motivated self-regulation. Three studies test the temporal and motivational conditions under which participants successfully pursue self-control goals. Results suggest that anticipatory …

Transforming Fear : The Impact Of Brief Values-Based Interventions On Avoidance Behavior In An Exposure Context, Timothy Ritzert

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Exposure therapy is the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders, yet there remains room for improvement. To date, most exposure-based interventions focus on approaching fear-inducing events. Yet, in natural contexts, fear-based avoidance tends to occur in contexts that demand approaching potentially meaningful and reinforcing consequences (e.g., work, intimacy, friendships, helping others). Thus, to maximize exposure, it may be useful to arrange exposures to include contacting fear while simultaneously approaching rewarding consequences, or what many refer to as values. Values strategies, part of acceptance and commitment therapy, might be one way to optimize exposure therapy by increasing approach toward fear-provoking situations …

Characteristics Of Subjects Who Avoid Activities And Participation Due To A Fear Of Falling In Parkinson’S Disease, Russell Gourlie, Spencer Sorensen, Rithea Vong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine and identify key characteristics of and differences between people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) who exhibit moderate/high fear of falling avoidance behaviors and those that exhibit low fear of falling avoidance behaviors.

Subjects: A total of 24 subjects (5 females, 19 males; mean age= 72.2, SD=9.1) participated in this study.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to identify descriptive characteristics of subjects with PD associated with moderate/high levels of fear avoidance behavior (MHA) or low levels of fear avoidance (LA) as measured by the Fear of Falling Avoidance-Behavior …

Exploring Reaction Time Differences To Aggression Words As A Function Of Attachment Related Avoidance And Anxiety, Stephanie L. Johnson

ETD Archive

A previous study using an Emotional Stroop task (EST) and a Visual Lexical Decision task (VLDT) determined that threat-related subliminal primes (for participantshigh in attachment anxiety) 1) heightened accessibility of representations of attachment figures, and 2) inhibited attachment representations (high attachment avoidance) whenthe threat prime was the word separation. The current study also used both tasks (EST and VLDT) to explore differences in reaction time (RT) without a subliminal prime for neutral, physical, and relational aggressive words as a function of attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety. Results showed that for the EST, higher avoidance reflected slower RTs to physical aggression …

Development Of A Scale To Assess Avoidance Behavior Due To A Fear Of Falling: The Fear Of Falling Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (Ffabq), Cortney Durand, D. Shalom Powell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: A history of falls or imbalance may lead to a fear of falling which may lead to self-imposed avoidance of activity; this avoidance may stimulate a vicious cycle of deconditioning and subsequent falls.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that would quantify avoidance behavior due to a fear of falling.

Design: This study consisted of two parts, questionnaire development and psychometric testing. Questionnaire development included an expert panel and 39 assisted living residents. Psychometric testing included 63 community dwelling subjects with various health conditions.

Methods: Questionnaire development included the evaluation …

Effects Of Ancient And Modern, Avoidant And Approach Stimuli On Visual Search Task Reaction Times, Sanja Bojic

Theses : Honours

The threat superiority effect refers to faster and more accurate detection of fearful stimuli. This has been explained as evidence for evolution, as ancient fearful stimuli are detected more quickly than modern fearful stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate which of two alternate evolutionary explanations best explains the findings. Whereas Ohman and Mineka (2001) dealt only with avoidant responses, Lang suggested that stimuli may evoke either an avoidant (fearful) or approach response, associated with negative or positive valence, respectively. The experiment employed a same-different task where Age (ancient, modern), and Valence (approach, avoidant, neutral) were manipulated and …

Relationship Between Believed Causes Of Depression And Social Distance, Samantha Jean Tomsick

ETD Archive

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between causal explanations for depression and the social distance individuals would desire from a depressed person in order to clarify whether changes to existing public awareness campaigns concerning depression might be warranted. The sample used consisted of 223 students attending a university in a large mid-western city. Each participant received a vignette that described an individual suffering from depressive symptoms and also included information regarding whether these symptoms were caused by psychosocial or biological factors. The subjects then completed a survey incorporating questions from the modified version of the …

The Influence Of Humor On Approach And Avoidance Motivation, Stuart Jenkins Daman

ETD Archive

Approach and avoidance motivation have been used to study many phenomena, but no research has yet investigated the influence of humor on approach and avoidance motivation. The feelings associated with humor are also associated with situations high in safety and low in threat. These sorts of situations are likely to result in decreases in avoidance motivation. Participants viewed either a humorous video clip or a mundane video clip and then completed a series of self-report measures to assess levels of approach and avoidance motivation. Contrary to expectations, composites of measures of approach and avoidance motivation were not influenced by the …

Interpersonal Forgiveness In Close Relationships: An Attachment Perspective, Linda Susan Krajewski

Theses Digitization Project

Close interpersonal relationships are the foundation of human society. The goal in this study was to investigate the relationships between forgiveness (self and others) and the two dimensions of attachment (anxiety and avoidance).

Interpersonal Forgiveness In Close Relationships: An Attachment Perspective, Linda Susan Krajewski

Theses Digitization Project

Close interpersonal relationships are the foundation of human society. The goal in this study was to investigate the relationships between forgiveness (self and others) and the two dimensions of attachment (anxiety and avoidance).

The Effects Of Three Levels Of Social Interaction On The Maintenance Of Sidman Avoidance In Rats, John Lewis Cofer

Master's Theses

In 1965 Zajonc theorized that the effect of the presence of others was to facilitate the maintenance of a behavior. However, opposite results have been found when rat subjects were tested with shock used as a reinforcer. It was hypothesized that shock elicited aggression interfered with responding, producing performance decrement, rather than facilitation. A wheel-turn Sidman avoidance procedure was used to study maintenance behavior in rats under three levels of social interaction: single subject, two subjects separated by a barrier to prevent shock elicited aggressions (the companion paradigm), and two subjects not separated in the. test chamber (the physical paradigm). …

Differential Assessment Of Retrograde Amnesia Produced By Hypothermia Following One-Trial Avoidance Conditioning, Duane E. Brookhart

Master's Theses

Two different measures of the retention of avoidance conditioning, frequently used in the investigation of retrograde anmesia (RA), were examined. Rats were given a single training trial on either passive or active avoidance in a conventional black-white discrimination apparatus and step-through latencies were recorded. Task sequence, footshock and hypothermia were experimentally varied across eight groups of subjects. Each S was returned to the experimental apparatus 24 hours after training and given retention tests on both passive and active avoidance tasks. Test trial latencies failed to demonstrate any retention deficits attributable to RA, and both passive and active avoidance test latencies …

Acquisition And Extinction Of An Avoidance Response By Mildly Retarded Girls, Enrique E. Corte

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of some of the variables operating on the acquisition and extinction of avoidance behavior by mildly retarded adolescent girls. The subjects observed were 20 patients of Parsons State Hospital and Training Center. All the subjects were 15 years of age or older and none of them had reached her twenty-first birthday at the time that the experiment was run. They had adaptive behavior levels of I, II or III.

The subjects were randomly assigned to one of two replications and to one of two experimental conditions (extinction and control). All the subjects were brought into …