Developmental psychology.pdf

Adjustment and Maladjustment 431
Avoidance
.gradient
Approach
gradient
±A X В
Figure 16.6
Approach-Avoidance Conflict. At
X, where the approach gradient is
stronger than the avoidance gradient,
the subject moves toward A. But
after passing the point of
intersection, he retreats towards В
because of the stronger avoidance
gradient. The subject's behavior at
any moment depends on the
comparative strengths of the
gradients.
Now what will happen if the man regards the hospital as having both positive
and negative characteristics, as suggested earlier? Here is the most obvious conflict,
and it may be prolonged. The prospective patient is brought toward the hospital because
the approach gradient is a long one. Objects with both positive and negative
features generally look most attractive at some distance. But the avoidance gradient
is steeper as we draw closer. To the prospective patient, the idea of hospitalization may
seem quite aversive when he is approaching the hospital door. Hence the person vacillates
back and forth, brought toward the object by the long approach gradient and
repelled by the steep avoidance gradient (Figure 16.6).
In the approach-avoidance conflict some new element is often introduced,
raising the approach tendency or lowering the avoidance, thus ending the conflict.
A friend urges the person to enter the hospital, and with this new element the gradient
shifts. In addition, approach-avoidance conflicts can have two or more alternatives,
each with positive and negative features, a situation called multiple approach-avoidance.*
One reason that many decisions are so difficult is that we experience
opposed feelings about so many things.
'Two guys asked me to go on a
date on the same night. One
wanted to take me to a nightclub
where there was a group that I had
always wanted to see in person.
However, the other guy, who I really
wanted to date, had asked me to
go to a movie that I really didn't
want to go to because I had already
seen it before and really didn't like
it.
COMMON REACTIONS TO STRESS
Suppose the man planning to enter a hospital is hindered by an external barrier, such
as lack of transportation. Or suppose he simply cannot resolve the conflict about whether
or not to enter. What then?
Decreased Responsiveness
Here we begin with the less extreme reactions to stress. All of us, confronted with
frustration and conflict, have shown some of the following reactions.
Conflict and Helplessness Research on adjustment reactions is accomplished
initially with animals, and in one experiment a pig learned to lift the lid of a food box
to receive an apple. Later an electric shock also appeared when the lid was lifted, and
the pig was in an approach-avoidance conflict. Eventually the animal seemed torn in
both directions, became lethargic, ignored the food box completely, and went into a
sleeplike trance (Curtis, 1937).
In another instance, dogs were placed in a suspension harness that allowed
some freedom of movement, and they all received a brief, mild shock. Some could not
terminate it, but others could do so by pressing a nearby panel. Then each dog was
placed individually in an open compartment without a harness, where another electric