Empirical avoidance gradient
Dale Franklin Nielsen · The Mathematics Enthusiast · 1962
Montana State U niversity Lewin (1935) was one o f the f i r s t psych ologists to emphasize c o n flic t as a source o f frustration,, A c o n flic t situ a tio n a r ises any time that a choice must he made between two approximately equal motives both o f which can not be s a t is f ie d at the same tim e.In order to reduce the tension o f some p h ysical, s o c ia l, or psychological need, an individual may be motivated eith er to move toward a p articu lar i goal or away from i t .Lewin recognizes three types of c o n flic t (Lewin, 1935)% (1) c o n flic tin g a ttra ctio n --where there are two equally a ttra c tiv e goals one o f which must be sa c rifice d i f the other i s to be attainedj ( 2) a t traction -rep u lsion -w herethe individual i s directed both to approach and to avoid the same g o a l| and ( 3) c o n flic tin g avoidance--where one negative goal must be accepted in order to avoid another.Hovland and Sears (1938) c r it ic iz e d Lewin's over-sim p lifica tio n o f the phenomenon and added a fourth typeg (li) double approachavoidance-where both goals have both p o s itiv e and negative asp ects.Neither Lewin nor Hovland and Sears supported th e ir th e o re tica l p o sitio n s with experimental evidence* Since 1937 the task o f obtaining experimental support has been accepted by M iller and h is co-workers.M iller (19UU) summarized the early work in th is area and presented the foundations for a theory o f c o n flic t behavior.M iller (1959) recen tly summarized experimental data in the case o f appro a eh-avoidanc e c o n flic t