scholarly journals Who Cares? Effects of Social Approach and Avoidance Motivation on Responsiveness to Others

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Relationship Closeness ◽  
Approach And Avoidance Motivation

Responsiveness to others (i.e., our understanding, validation, and support of important aspects of others) significantly contributes to positive social relationships. In the present research, we found evidence that responsiveness has motivational origins. In two experiments, participants who were approaching positive social outcomes had a higher level of responsiveness compared with participants who were avoiding negative social outcomes. A third experiment disentangled the roles of motivation and situation valence. Positive (compared with negative) social situations were associated with higher approach motivation, lower avoidance motivation, and a higher level of responsiveness. However, within a given situation, both approach and avoidance motivation were associated with a higher level of responsiveness. This association was even stronger in negative situations, suggesting that both approach and avoidance motivation might be ways of behaving responsively in potentially difficult social situations. The effects were independent of relationship closeness and partly weaker in older compared with younger adults.

scholarly journals The Motivational Power of the Happy Face

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Happy Face ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Time Asymmetry ◽  
Motivational Effect ◽  
Avoidance Reactions

People who are cheerful have better social relationships. This might be the case because happy faces communicate an invitation to interact. Thus, happy faces might have a strong motivational effect on others. We tested this hypothesis in a set of four studies. Study 1 (N = 94) showed that approach reactions to happy faces are faster than other reactions to happy or angry faces. Study 2 (N = 99) found the same effect when comparing reactions to happy faces with reactions to disgusted faces. Supporting the notion that this effect is related to motivation, habitual social approach motivation intensified the motivational effect of happy faces (Study 3, N = 82). Finally, Study 4 (N = 40) showed that the reaction-time asymmetry does not hold for categorization tasks without approach and avoidance movements. These studies demonstrate that happy faces have a strong motivational power. They seem to activate approach reactions more strongly than angry or disgusted faces activate avoidance reactions.

Implicit motives as the missing link between visionary leadership, approach and avoidance motivation, and vision pursuit

2021 ◽  
pp. 204138662110613
Author(s):  
Hugo M. Kehr ◽  
Julian Voigt ◽  
Maika Rawolle
Keyword(s):  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Implicit Motives ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Pictorial Cues ◽  
Approach And Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Leadership Research ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fundamental Proposition

An unresolved question in visionary leadership research is, why must visions be high in imagery to cause affective reactions and be motivationally effective? Research in motivation psychology has shown that pictorial cues arouse implicit motives. Thus, pictorial cues from vision-induced imagery should arouse a follower’s implicit motives just like a real image. Hence, our fundamental proposition is that follower implicit motives and follower approach motivation serially mediate the relationship between leader vision and followers’ vision pursuit. We also examine the case of negative leader visions, with the central propositions that a negative leader vision arouses a follower’s implicit fear motives and that the follower’s implicit fear motives and follower avoidance motivation serially mediate the relationship between negative leader vision and the follower’s fear-related behaviors. Lastly, we assert that multiple implicit follower motives aroused by a multithematic leader vision exert additive as well as interaction effects on the follower’s vision pursuit.

Social Motives Predict Loneliness During a Developmental Transition

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Developmental Transitions ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.

Approach and Avoidance Motivation: Issues and Advances

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas B. Eder ◽  
Andrew J. Elliot ◽  
Eddie Harmon-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Approach And Avoidance Motivation
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