Unique associations between anxiety,depression and motives for approach and avoidance goal pursuit

This study investigated the shared and distinct associations between depressive and anxious symptoms and motives for pursuing personal goals. One hundred and thirty-six undergraduates generated approach and avoidance goals and rated each on intrinsic, identified, introjected and external motives. Anxious and depressive symptoms showed significant unique associations with distinct motives. Specifically, depressive symptoms predicted significant unique variance in intrinsic motivation for approach goals (but not avoidance goals), whereas anxious symptoms predicted significant unique variance in introjected regulation for approach and avoidance goals. Some of these findings were moderated by gender. The findings broadly support the notion that depression is uniquely characterised by reduced enjoyment of approach goal pursuit whereas anxiety is uniquely characterised by pursuit of goals in order to avoid negative outcomes. We suggest that these findings are compatible with regulatory focus theory and suggest that motives for goal pursuit are important in understanding the relation between goals and specific mood disorder symptoms.     

Weakening Relationships We Try to Preserve: Motivated Sacrifice,Attachment, and Relationship Quality

Individuals' motivations for sacrificing are associated with relational outcomes, such that approach‐motivated sacrifices lead to increased satisfaction, whereas avoidance‐motivated sacrifices lead to decreased satisfaction ( Impett et al., 2005 ). Because attachment styles are associated with relational outcomes ( Feeney & Collins, 2003 ), the current study examined whether approach‐ and avoidance‐motivated sacrifices would mediate the association between attachment and satisfaction. Results indicated that avoidance motives did not mediate the relationship between attachment avoidance and satisfaction. However, avoidance motives mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and satisfaction, whereas approach motives suppressed that relationship. Taken together, these findings suggest that individuals high in attachment anxiety (but not attachment avoidance) seem to unintentionally weaken the relationship for which they are making sacrifices.     

The Indirect Nature of Social Motives: The Relation of Social Approach and Avoidance Motives with Likeability via Extraversion and Agreeableness

The current study tested assumptions derived from the whole‐trait theory (Fleeson, 2012), which proposes a connection between personality and motivation. We hypothesized that individual differences in social approach and avoidance motives are associated with personality as observed by others. In addition, we expected that observed personality links social approach and avoidance motives to interpersonal outcomes. The sample was composed of 83 young adults (25.3% males, M_age = 21.66 years) who had recently moved into a shared apartment. Roommates (N = 83; 50.6% males, M_age = 22.83 years) evaluated the newcomers on Extraversion, Agreeableness, and likeability. Approach motives had an indirect positive effect on likeability through other‐reported Extraversion and Agreeableness. Although avoidance motives had some negative effects on likeability mediated through low Extraversion, they were positively associated with Agreeableness. These results demonstrate the complexity of social approach and avoidance motives. Moreover, they highlight the importance of motivational factors for observed personality.     

Individual Differences in Habitual Social Goals and Daily Well‐Being: The Role of Age and Relationship Closeness

There is a robust evidence that social approach goals (i.e. approach of positive social outcomes) have positive consequences and social avoidance goals (i.e. avoidance of negative social outcomes) have negative consequences for subjective well‐being in young adulthood. Little is known about individual differences in social goals in later life. The current diary study with young (n = 212), middle‐aged (n = 232), and older adults (n = 229) tested––and supported––the hypotheses that age (i) differentially predicts the strength of habitual approach and avoidance goals in close and peripheral relationships and (ii) moderates the relation of approach and avoidance goals in peripheral (but not close) relationships and daily outcomes (subjective well‐being, subjective health, and satisfaction with social encounters). Older adults compared to younger adults reported higher levels of avoidance goals in peripheral (but not close) relationships. Younger adults who reported high levels of approach goals and older adults who reported high levels of avoidance goals in peripheral relationships experienced the most positive daily outcomes. In addition, social goals moderated some of the associations between (positive and negative) daily interactions and daily outcomes. Results underscore the importance of the closeness of social partners for individual differences in social goals across adulthood. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The joys of genuine giving: Approach and avoidance sacrifice motivation and authenticity

Why do sacrifices undertaken in pursuit of approach and avoidance goals differentially influence well‐being and relationship quality? A cross‐sectional study (Study 1), an experiment (Study 2), and a 2‐week daily experience study (Study 3) demonstrate that the personal and interpersonal outcomes of approach and avoidance sacrifice goals in dating and married relationships are mediated by felt authenticity. When people sacrificed for approach goals such as to make their partner happy, they felt more authentic, in turn contributing to greater personal and relationship well‐being. However, when they sacrificed for avoidance goals such as to avoid conflict, they felt less authentic, in turn detracting from personal and relationship well‐being. Implications for research and theory on motivational processes in close relationships are discussed.     

Attachment and exploration in adulthood

In the present work, the relationship between attachment and exploration in adulthood is examined from both theoretical and empirical standpoints. Theoretically, attachment theory's exploration system is linked to R. W. White's (1959) concept of effectance motivation, and to the motive and goals constructs that are central to the achievement motivation literature. Empirically, 4 studies are presented that document a link between adult attachment (operationalized using categorical, continuous, and dimensional measures) and achievement motives (need for achievement and fear of failure) and achievement goals (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and approach relative to avoidance personal strivings). Mediational analyses establish the role of challenge construal, threat construal, and competence valuation in accounting for the observed relationships.     

Personality and Health Outcomes: Making Positive Expectations a Reality

Trait optimism is associated with better health, but the reason for this association is unclear. The present investigation focused on specific goals and negative emotions as potential pathways through which optimism can lead to better health. College students (n = 336) in the U.S. reported their mental and physical health at the start of an academic term and during finals. Over the course of the term, they reported three daily events and rated the extent to which they were motivated to attain positive outcomes (approach goals) or avoid negative outcomes (avoidance goals). Greater optimism predicted fewer mental and physical health symptoms at the end of the term, controlling for initial symptoms. This association between optimism and symptoms was mediated by the intensity of avoidance goals and negative emotion during the term. These findings suggest that positive expectations do predict better health and this relationship is partially due to the goals people set in their daily lives.     

How prosocial behavior turns bad into good: An examination among Turkish-Bulgarian adolescents

Building on the Altruism Born of Suffering (ABS) Hypothesis, the present research tests the mediator role of prosocial behavior on the link between perceived personal discrimination and several psychological well-being outcomes in a sample of Turkish-Bulgarian minority youth. We argue that perceived personal discrimination is linked to prosocial behavior, which in turn alleviates discriminations’ detrimental effects on life satisfaction, self-esteem, negative affect and loneliness. Results revealed that prosocial behavior partially mediated the link between perceived personal discrimination and life satisfaction, perceived personal discrimination and self-esteem, and perceived personal discrimination and loneliness, while no mediating effect was found for negative affect. Our research contributes to the existing literature on minority youth dealing with discrimination, and proposes prosocial behavior to be a mechanism of resilient functioning against the maladaptive effects of perceived personal discrimination.

     

The effects of different types of goal pursuit on experience and performance during a stressful social task

Researchers have recently suggested that anxiety research may benefit from the examination of motivational factors, such as the difference between approach and avoidance goals. This suggestion is consistent with the literature on self-regulation, which indicates that affect serves as feedback for goal pursuit, with anxiety primarily providing feedback regarding avoidance. However, no data are available on participant goals for a task that generates social anxiety. Data from 120 speech anxious participants who engaged in a public speaking task were used to test the following hypotheses: (1) avoidance goals would be more specific than approach goals; (2) goals regarding social anxiety would have a negative impact on public speaking experience and performance; and (3) participants would tend to organize approach and avoidance goals not as separate goals, but as opposite poles of the same overarching goal. Hypotheses (1) and (3) were fully supported and hypothesis (2) was partially supported. The results highlight the possibility that approach goals may be particularly important to anxiety reduction.     

Giving up and giving in: the costs and benefits of daily sacrifice in intimate relationships

This research provided the first empirical investigation of how approach and avoidance motives for sacrifice in intimate relationships are associated with personal well-being and relationship quality. In Study 1, the nature of everyday sacrifices made by dating partners was examined, and a measure of approach and avoidance motives for sacrifice was developed. In Study 2, which was a 2-week daily experience study of college students in dating relationships, specific predictions from the theoretical model were tested and both longitudinal and dyadic components were included. Whereas approach motives for sacrifice were positively associated with personal well-being and relationship quality, avoidance motives for sacrifice were negatively associated with personal well-being and relationship quality. Sacrificing for avoidance motives was particularly detrimental to the maintenance of relationships over time. Perceptions of a partner's motives for sacrifice were also associated with well-being and relationship quality. Implications for the conceptualization of relationship maintenance processes along these 2 dimensions are discussed.     

What you want (and do not want) affects what you see (and do not see): avoidance social goals and social events

Two studies examined the influence of approach and avoidance social goals on memory for and evaluation of ambiguous social information. Study 1 found that individual differences in avoidance social goals were associated with greater memory of negative information, negatively biased interpretation of ambiguous social cues, and a more pessimistic evaluation of social actors. Study 2 experimentally manipulated social goals and found that individuals high in avoidance social motivation remembered more negative information and expressed more dislike for a stranger in the avoidance condition than in the approach condition. Results suggest that avoidance social goals are associated with emphasizing potential threats when making sense of the social environment.     

How Sacrifice Impacts the Giver and the Recipient: Insights From Approach‐Avoidance Motivational Theory

This study investigated how sacrificing for approach versus avoidance goals shapes the giver's and the recipient's emotions and relationship quality. A sample of 80 dating couples participated in a three‐part study in which they discussed sacrifice in the laboratory (Part 1), reported on their daily sacrifices for 14 days (Part 2), and completed a follow‐up survey 3 months later (Part 3). When partners discussed a sacrifice they had made for approach goals, they experienced greater relationship quality, whereas when they discussed a sacrifice they had made for avoidance goals, they experienced poorer relationship quality. These effects were replicated with outside observer reports. On days when partners sacrificed for approach goals, both partners experienced increased relationship quality, but on days when people sacrificed for avoidance goals, the giver experienced decreased relationship quality. These effects were mediated by positive and negative emotions, respectively. Approach sacrifice goals predicted increases in relationship quality and avoidance sacrifice goals predicted decreases in relationship quality, as reported by both partners 3 months later. Sacrifice per se does not help or harm relationships, but the goals that people pursue when they give up their own interests can critically shape the quality of intimate bonds.     

Sociocultural antecedents of academic motivation and achievement: Role of values and achievement motives in achievement goals and academic performance

With a view to understand the influence of culture on achievement motivation, the study aimed to test the hypothesized mediating role of individual‐oriented and social‐oriented achievement motives in linking value orientations (e.g. achievement, security, conformity, hedonism) to achievement goals (i.e. mastery‐approach, mastery‐avoidance, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals) as predictors of English and mathematics achievements. These hypothesized relationships were tested in the one‐path analytic model with a sample of Indonesian high‐school students (n = 356; 46% girls, M age = 16.20 years). The findings showed that security and conformity values positively predicted social‐oriented achievement motive; self‐direction values positively predicted individual‐oriented achievement motive; and hedonism values negatively predicted both achievement motive orientations. Both individual‐oriented and social‐oriented achievement motives positively predicted mastery‐approach and performance‐approach goals. Interestingly, social‐oriented achievement motive also positively predicted mastery‐avoidance and performance‐avoidance goals, which in turn, negatively predicted English and mathematic achievement. There was also some evidence for the direct effects of values on performance‐approach goals and achievement. Taken together, the findings evinced the relevance of achievement goal constructs to Indonesian students and the psychometric properties of the Indonesian version of the Achievement Goals Questionnaire for further use in Indonesia. The study concludes that the meanings of academic motivation and achievement should be seen from a sociocultural perspective relevant to the context in which they are being studied.     

The interactive effects of achievement goals and task complexity on enjoyment,mental focus,and effort

Several empirical studies have suggested that achievement goal researchers should put a greater emphasis on identifying factors that may moderate the effects of achievement goals on motivation and related outcomes. In line with this recommendation, the current study sought to examine how one task characteristics (task complexity) may moderate the impact of achievement goals on the motivational outcomes of task enjoyment, mental focus, and exerted effort. Consistent with both the theoretical foundations of achievement goals and the existing research literature, we hypothesized that achievement goals would interact with task complexity in their effects on motivation such that the positive effects of mastery goals would be stronger for complex tasks, the positive effects of performance‐approach goals would be stronger for simple tasks, and the negative effects of performance‐avoidance goals would be weaker for simple tasks. Data collected from 347 undergraduate students assigned to simple or complex task conditions when performing a puzzle‐based task supported these hypotheses. Under complex task conditions, the positive effects of mastery goals were amplified, whereas simple task conditions enhanced the positive effects of performance‐approach goals and minimized the negative impact of performance‐avoidance goals. Future directions for research on achievement goals are discussed, along with potential practical implications of the results of this study.     

初中生社会比较在成就目标与学业自我效能感之间的中介效应

采用成就目标定向、社会比较和学业自我效能感三个量表,以724名初中生为被试,对社会比较在成就目标与学业自我效能感之间的中介作用进行了考察。结果表明：（1）除对学习能力自我效能感产生直接影响外,掌握接近目标会通过上行比较、成绩接近目标会通过上行/下行比较间接地影响学习能力自我效能感;（2）掌握接近目标、成绩接近目标和成绩回避目标不仅会对学习行为自我效能感产生直接影响,还会通过下行比较对其产生间接影响。说明成就目标可以通过直接和间接两种不同的方式影响学业自我效能感。     

Shyness,Loneliness Avoidance,and Internet Addiction: What are the Relationships?

Given that shyness has been consistently linked to Internet addiction in youth, an examination into the mediating effect of a desire to avoid loneliness on the shyness–Internet addiction link could offer potential insights into a possible explanatory mechanism as well as directions for Internet addiction prevention and intervention in young adulthood. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of loneliness avoidance in the relationship between shyness and Internet addiction among 286 youth Internet users. Shyness was significantly and positively correlated with loneliness avoidance and Internet addiction. In addition, loneliness avoidance was significantly and positively correlated with Internet addiction. Most importantly, loneliness avoidance may predispose shy youth to become addicted to the Internet. Theoretical and practical implications of the research findings for youth wellness are addressed in this study.     

Social implications of smartphone use: korean college students' smartphone use and psychological well-being

Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between motives of smartphone use, social relation, and psychological well-being. The correlation analysis shows that the motives of smartphone use were positively related to bonding relations but negatively related to bridging relations. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis finds the associations among motives of smartphone use, social relations, perceived social support, and variables of psychological well-being. The results demonstrate that needs for caring for others were negatively related to loneliness and depression and positively related to self-esteem. However, the communication motives are not a significant predictor to determine self-esteem, loneliness, and depression. In addition, bonding and bridging social relations and social support significantly increase self-esteem and decrease loneliness and depression.     

Rejection Sensitivity,Social Withdrawal,and Loneliness in Young Adults

Rejection sensitivity (RS) has significant negative impacts on individuals' social cognitions, feelings, and interpersonal behaviors. The present research assessed the hypothesis that the effect of RS on young adults' loneliness is mediated by their tendency to withdraw from social contact so as to avoid possible rejection. Participants completed measures of their RS, their tendencies to engage in social withdrawal to avoid rejection, and their loneliness; as well as measures of their social avoidance and distress, self‐esteem, and social self‐efficacy. Results confirmed the main hypothesis and also indicated that RS is positively related to social avoidance and distress, and negatively related to self‐esteem and social self‐efficacy. Implications of the findings for understanding and counteracting RS are discussed.     

Agreeableness as a predictor of aggression in adolescence

This multi‐method research linked the Big Five personality dimensions to aggression in early adolescence. Agreeableness was the personality dimension of focus because this dimension is associated with motives to maintain positive interpersonal relations. In two studies, middle school children were assessed on the Big Five domains of personality. Study 1 showed that agreeableness was associated with both indirect and direct aggression. In addition, the link between agreeableness and aggression was strongest for direct strategies. Study 2 examined the hypotheses that agreeableness predicts social cognitions associated with aggression, peer reports of direct aggression, and teacher reports of adjustment. Agreeableness predicted peer reports of aggression and social cognitions associated with aggression. In addition, aggression mediated the link between agreeableness and adjustment. Results suggest that of the Big Five dimensions, Agreeableness is most closely associated with processes and outcomes related to aggression in adolescents. Aggr. Behav. 30:43–61, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Approach and avoidance relationship goals and couples’ nonverbal communication during conflict

Approach relationship goals are pursued in order to achieve desirable outcomes, whereas avoidance relationship goals are pursued to prevent undesirable outcomes in relationships. We investigated how partners’ approach and avoidance relationship goals are related to their nonverbal communication during conflict. A sequential analysis of observational data from 365 couples (28,470 observations) revealed that individuals with more (vs. fewer) approach goals displayed more positive involvement (e.g., head nods, smiles) and less avoidant withdrawal (e.g., shaking head, folded arms). The reverse pattern emerged for avoidance goals. Furthermore, women (but not men) matched their partner's positive involvement to a greater extent the more approach goals and the fewer avoidance goals they pursued. In contrast, approach/avoidance relationship goals were not associated with how much individuals matched their partner's avoidant withdrawal. Results suggest that relationship goals are related to partners’ nonverbal communication and the extent to which women match their partner's positive involvement during conflict.