Document Type

Research

Abstract

In his introduction to a discussion of experimental studies of conflict, Neal E. Miller (2) states that "conflict is produced by competition between incompatible responses." He goes on to say, however, that such response phenomena as hesitation, vacillation, or complete blocking are not found in all situations where there are competing response tendencies. The extent to which they appear is a function of the type of conflict situation. Using human subjects in a series of experiments on motor conflict, Hovland and Sears (1) confirmed this prediction from theory. These investigators studied the effects of two types of conflict - double-approach and double-avoidance. They found that the distribution of responses, when classified into categories on the basis of observable characteristics, was different for the two conflict situations. In the study to be reported, certain of the procedures used by Hovland and Sears were repeated, in essential aspects, preparatory to a systematic investigation of the effects of practice and motivation upon conflict behavior in human subjects. This paper makes a comparison of the Hovland and Sears results with those of the present experiment, with respect to double-approach and double-avoidance conflict behavior.

Publication Date

1950

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

Issue

First Page

361

Last Page

365

Copyright

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Andreas, Burton G. (1950) "Motor Responses as a Function of Type of Conflict," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 57(1), 361-365.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol57/iss1/47

Download

Comments?

COinS

Motor Responses as a Function of Type of Conflict

Authors