Truth, control, and value motivations: the "what," "how," and "why" of approach and avoidance.

James F M Cornwell,E Tory Higgins,Becca Franks

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2014.00194

James F M Cornwell, E Tory Higgins + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00194

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Abstract

The hedonic principle—the desire to approach pleasure and avoid pain—is frequently presumed to be the fundamental principle upon which motivation is built. In the past few decades, researchers have enriched our understanding of how approaching pleasure and avoiding pain differ from each other. However, more recent empirical and theoretical work delineating the principles of motivation in humans and non-human animals has shown that not only can approach/avoidance motivations themselves be further distinguished into promotion approach/avoidance and prevention approach/avoidance, but that approaching pleasure and avoiding pain requires the functioning of additional distinct motivations—the motivation to establish what is real (truth) and the motivation to manage what happens (control). Considering these additional motivations in the context of moral psychology and animal welfare science suggests that these less-examined motives may themselves be fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of motivation, with major implications for the study of the “what,” “how,” and “why” of human and non-human approach and avoidance behavior.

Highlights

The hedonic principle has existed for at least as long as we have had the capacity to write down our thoughts about ourselves, being recorded, for example, in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus
Though we argue that this treatment of approach/avoidance as a “one size fits all” principle of motivation is difficult to sustain in light of recent research, we fully recognize the importance of this distinction for motivation science
We review recent work in these fields demonstrating that other motivational distinctions need to be taken into account as well, and argue that some of these motives may be fundamental to fully understanding the approach/avoidance distinction itself—looking within the “one size fits all” approach/avoidance principle to delineate the “what,” “how,” and “why” of these orientations and behaviors

Summary

Introduction

The hedonic principle has existed for at least as long as we have had the capacity to write down our thoughts about ourselves, being recorded, for example, in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. We begin the paper by outlining the ways in which the approach/avoidance distinction has made significant contributions to two areas of study: non-human animal behavior and moral psychology.

Results

Conclusion