On the interplay between stimulus-driven and goal-directed processes in the decision to fight or flee

Autor: Fischer, Maja, Moors, Agnes, Köster, Massimo, Buabang, Eike, bossuyt, evelien
Rok vydání: 2022
DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/at45p
Popis: Traditional dual-process models assume that stimulus-driven processes are responsible for early emotional action tendencies and that goal-directed processes step in at a later stage to refine or correct these action tendencies. In contrast to this, a recent, alternative dual-process model proposes that goal-directed processes operate in parallel with stimulus-driven processes at an early stage, that they enter in competition with the stimulus-driven processes, and that they defeat stimulus-driven processes in most cases. Recent studies found evidence that goal-directed processes can indeed determine early action tendencies, but they did not show whether the process indeed entered in competition with a stimulus-driven process. The aim of the current study was to examine whether a goal-directed process can determine early action tendencies when in competition with a stimulus-driven process. To test this, we first conducted two experiments to establish the operation of a stimulus-driven process and we conducted a third experiment in which the stimulus-driven process was pitted against a goal-directed process. Action tendencies were measured with implicit measures (i.e., facilitation of instructed responses). The first two experiments provided support for the operation of a stimulus-driven process in which negative valence elicits a tendency to fight. The third experiment suggested that the goal-directed process indeed operated in parallel with the stimulus-driven process, but not that the goal-directed process was able to literally defeat the stimulus-driven process.
Databáze: OpenAIRE