Week 10: Approach-avoidance AND OCD

What is meant by promotion focus?

Concerned with making good things happen, growth, advancement, and achieving ideal self-goals.

What is meant by prevention focus?

Concerned with keeping bad things from happening, duties, responsibilities, and ought self-goals.

What is self-regulation?

The processes by which individuals set goals, select means to attain them, and assess progress toward them

What is Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST)?

A biobehavioral theory proposing that people differ in sensitivity of three systems: BAS (reward), BIS (anxiety), and FFFS (Fight-flight-fear).

What is the behavioral activation (approach) system?

A reward/desire system responsive to cues for reward, associated with impulsivity and positive affect.

What is the fight-flight-freeze system?

A fear system that reacts to immediate threats or pain.

What is the behavioral inhibition (avoidance) system?

An anxiety system that responds to punishment, uncertainty, novelty, and overstimulation by promoting caution.

What is the difference between biobehavioral and social cognitive theories of approach and avoidance?

Biobehavioral theories focus on brain-based systems (e.g., BAS/BIS), while social cognitive theories focus on goal pursuit and motivational orientations (e.g., promotion/prevention).

What brain regions are associated with approach and avoidance behavior?

The amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and reward pathways such as VTA to nucleus accumbens.

What role does the amygdala and its connections to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) play in approach and avoidance?

They are involved in fear learning, including acquisition, expression, and retrieval of fear.

What is the function of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to nucleus accumbens (NAcc) pathway?

It is part of the brain’s reward system involved in approach motivation.

What neurotransmitter is primarily involved in the VTA to NAC pathway?

Dopamine

What is an approach-avoidance conflict?

A situation where a goal has both positive and negative consequences, producing simultaneous approach and avoidance reactions.

What are the three factors Lewin suggests are important in resolving approach-avoidance conflicts?

Tension, magnitude of valence, and psychological distance.

What is the approach-avoidance gradient?

The change in balance between approach and avoidance motivation as one gets closer to a goal.

How does psychological distance influence approach-avoidance conflicts?

People focus more on positives when far away and more on negatives when close to the goal.

What is an approach-approach conflict?

A conflict between two desirable options.

What is an avoidance-avoidance conflict?

A conflict between two undesirable options.

Which type of conflict is usually easier to resolve: approach-approach or avoidance-avoidance?

Approach-approach conflicts are usually easier to resolve.

How does mood influence the resolution of approach-approach and avoidance-avoidance conflicts?

In a good mood, approach-approach is easier; in a bad mood, both are equally difficult.

What is Higgins’s Regulatory Focus Theory?

A social cognitive theory of goal pursuit based on promotion and prevention orientations.

In Regulatory Focus Theory, which orientation involves making good things happen?

Promotion orientation.

In Regulatory Focus Theory, which orientation involves preventing bad things from happening?

Prevention orientation.

Are promotion and prevention the same as BAS and BIS?

No, they are not the same. You could have Behavioral approach system (BAS) “be healthier” by a prevention “eat less unhealthy” or promotion “eat more healthy”

How are promotion and prevention orientations related to parenting styles?

Parenting focused on gains fosters promotion; parenting focused on avoiding negative outcomes fosters prevention.

What are the levels of self-regulation?

system (goal/end-state), strategic (general plan for meeting goal), and tactical (specific instances of behavior, e.g., “walk 7K steps”)

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?

A disorder characterized by obsessions (intrusive, unwanted thoughts causing anxiety) and compulsions (ritualistic behaviors performed to reduce that anxiety).

What are obsessions?

Intrusive, unwanted, uncontrollable thoughts that cause anxiety and are often ego-dystonic.

What are compulsions?

Ritualistic, excessive behaviors or mental acts performed to neutralize obsessions and reduce anxiety.

What does ego-dystonic mean in the context of OCD?

Thoughts that are unwanted and inconsistent with a person’s values or sense of self.

What is culpability in relation to OCD?

An exaggerated sense of responsibility for preventing harm or negative outcomes.

What are “not-just-right” experiences?

Vague feelings that something is off or incomplete, often linked to a sense of incompleteness.

What is harm avoidance?

Hypersensitivity to threat or punishment leading to excessive caution, vigilance, and avoidance behavior.

What is incompleteness in OCD?

A persistent feeling that things are unfinished or not as they should be, often driving compulsive behavior.

Why is OCD sometimes referred to as the “doubting disorder”?

Because individuals have a lack of confidence in their memory and thinking, leading to persistent doubt.

Why is incompleteness an important factor in OCD?

It is very common and contributes to compulsive behavior, severity, and difficulty in treatment.

How is incompleteness related to severity or prognosis in OCD according to research?

It is associated with greater severity and poorer response to treatmen

What are 3-features of regulation?

1) standards (who we want to be)

2) Monitoring (where we are and should we change)

3) Capacity for change