Approach-avoidance Motivation Research Group
Approach and avoidance motivation are fundamental and basic to human functioning, and the approach-avoidance perspective is a highly generative and informative lens through which to examine social, personality, and developmental processes. Accordingly, our research group investigates a variety of different topics across diverse disciplines of psychology, using a multitude of research methodologies (laboratory experiments, longitudinal studies, prospective studies, and archival analyses).
Our group is comprised of graduate students in social-personality and clinical psychology, as well as post-docs and visiting professors, often from countries outside the U.S. We have ongoing collaborations with a number of other labs around the country and world, foremost being with Dr. Markus Maier and Dr. Reinhard Pekrun in Munich, Germany, and with Dr. Francois Cury in Marseilles, France. We can be reached by contacting Dr. Andrew Elliot at andye@psych.rochester.edu or Dr. Elliot's assistant, Christine Schulz, at christine.schulz@rochester.edu.
Ongoing programs in our research group:
- Development of avoidance motivation in elementary school: Examining the intergenerational transmission of avoidance motivation during the elementary school years.
- Achievement goal stability: Examining, for instance, the degree to which performance-approach goals are stable upon receipt of negative feedback (or do they quickly turn into performance-avoidance goals?).
- Avoidance motivation and the middle school transition: Examining the degree to which fear of failure represents a vulnerability as students face the challenge of the middle school transition.
- Color and motivation: Examining whether briefly viewing different colors prior to achievement events affects performance, persistence, and intrinsic motivation for achievement tasks.
- Approach and avoidance social goals: Examining the structure of social goals, as well as the antecedents and consequences of pursuing different types of approach and avoidance-focused social goals.
- Subtle cues that trigger approach and avoidance motivation: Examining the way in which subtle cues from different sensory systems impact motivation and performance without the individual's awareness.
- Achievement goals, perceived competence, and protective processes: Examining the interplay between achievement goals and perceived competence, particularly in the context of protective processes such as self-handicapping.
Journal articles available to download:
*For an overview of research on competence-based motivation, please see Dr. Elliot's (with Dr. Carol Dweck): Handbook of Competence and Motivation (Guilford Press).
*For an overview of research on approach-avoidance motivation, please see Dr. Elliot's Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation (Taylor & Francis)