Approach aversion: Negative hedonic reactions toward approaching stimuli.

Abstract

We live in a dynamic world, surrounded by moving stimuli-moving people, moving objects, and moving events. The current research proposes and finds an approach aversion effect-individuals feel less positively (or more negatively) about a stimulus if they perceive it to be approaching rather than receding or static. The effect appears general, occurring whether the stimulus is initially negative or nonnegative and whether it moves in space (toward or away from "here"), in time (toward or away from "now"), or in probability (toward or away from "sure"). This research complements extensive existing research on perceived static distance of stimuli (near vs. far) by exploring perceived dynamic movement of stimuli (approaching vs. receding), showing that the effect of movement is distinct from the effect of distance.

What is the Relationship Between “Personality” and “Social” Psychologies? Network, Community, and Whole Text Analyses of The Structure of Contemporary Scholarship

“…In it, a community of papers on self-regulation forms a bridge between communities of personality and attitudes/exclusion. Within these communities, a paper on regulatory focus in personality (Manczak, Zapata-Gietl, & McAdams, 2014) forms a bridge between personality and self-regulation; the latter community is, in turn linked to attitudes/exclusion by a paper on aversion to impending or approaching stimuli (Hsee, Tu, Lu & Ruan 2014).…”

The contextual malleability of approach-avoidance training effects: approaching or avoiding fear conditioned stimuli modulates effects of approach-avoidance training

“…For instance, some AAT studies disambiguate the approach action by including a zoom effect (i.e., an effect where a stimulus becomes larger after performing the action). This might change the impact of the approach action because people often consider such a zoom effect to be unpleasant (Hsee, Tu, Lu, & Ruan, 2014). The presence of a zoom effect might thus explain why in some studies AAT effects were absent (e.g., Becker et al, 2015) or even reversed (e.g., Vandenbosch & De Houwer, 2011).…”

Real-time planning and execution of evasive motions for a humanoid robot

“…In humans, this is a very instinctive reaction related to an evolutionary rooted tendency called approach aversion [17]. However, moving back is not sufficient to avoid collision if the obstacle moves faster than the humanoid.…”