<p>I remember from my university days learning about approach-avoidance conflicts. Briefly, many situations are perceived as having an upside and a downside:</p>

<ul>
<li>If upside>downside, we are likely to be attracted to the situation.</li>
<li>The closer we are to the situation (either in time or space), the stronger the upside and downside are perceived.</li>
<li>The increase in the strength of a perceived downside is greater than that of the upside (the avoidance gradient is steeper than the approach gradient).</li>
<li>This means that even though something may be more attractive now, the closer we are to the situation, the more the downside becomes prominent. At some point, upside
</ul>

<p>I also remember that the strengths of the gradients can be influenced. For example, alcohol has a tendency to weaken the perceived downside, so that a situation becomes more attractive for longer.</p>

<p>This would explain why people make some decisions which looked OK at the time but have a long term downside. It would also explain why alcohol can influence these decisions.</p>

<p>The question is: where can I read up more about this online?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-17T08:26:52.910Z
Have you tried [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approach-avoidance_conflict)?  Articles on there often have links to other sites for further reading.  [Study.com](http://study.com/academy/lesson/approach-avoidance-conflict-definition-examples.html) has a definition and examples plus a video.
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-17T10:58:38.197Z
@Chris I hate to admit it, but Wikipedia was the first place I looked. The article was very light on and their links are to offline resources. Study.com requires registration, which I’m not inclined to do yet. Thanks
Manngo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-19T13:39:21.453Z
Sounds very similar to Tversky and Kahneman's work on expected value and utility or decision making under risk. Perhaps that may give you some more hits.
Robin Kramer-ten Have
<cognitive-psychology><motivation>
Approach-Avoidance Conflicts
Manngo
# Approach-Avoidance Conflicts

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-17)

I remember from my university days learning about approach-avoidance conflicts. Briefly, many situations are perceived as having an upside and a downside:

* If upside>downside, we are likely to be attracted to the situation.
* The closer we are to the situation (either in time or space), the stronger the upside and downside are perceived.
* The increase in the strength of a perceived downside is greater than that of the upside (the avoidance gradient is steeper than the approach gradient).
* This means that even though something may be more attractive now, the closer we are to the situation, the more the downside becomes prominent. At some point, upside

I also remember that the strengths of the gradients can be influenced. For example, alcohol has a tendency to weaken the perceived downside, so that a situation becomes more attractive for longer.

This would explain why people make some decisions which looked OK at the time but have a long term downside. It would also explain why alcohol can influence these decisions.

The question is: where can I read up more about this online?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, motivation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Have you tried [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approach-avoidance_conflict)?  Articles on there often have links to other sites for further reading.  [Study.com](http://study.com/academy/lesson/approach-avoidance-conflict-definition-examples.html) has a definition and examples plus a video.  
> **username_0**: @Chris I hate to admit it, but Wikipedia was the first place I looked. The article was very light on and their links are to offline resources. Study.com requires registration, which I’m not inclined to do yet. Thanks  
> **username_2**: Sounds very similar to Tversky and Kahneman's work on expected value and utility or decision making under risk. Perhaps that may give you some more hits.  

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## 0 answers

