A hungry albino rat peers across a straight runway alley and spots the enticing sight of food some distance away. Advancing forward, the rat’s initiative gradually wanes as it arrives approximately partway toward its goal. Halting, the rat waits momentarily. It takes a few anxious steps forward, then retreats. The rat declines to progress toward its goal due to its having experienced a sharp voltage of electric shock from within the alley’s floor grid at the endpoint during a previous test trial.
Such a scenario was observed several decades ago during studies of the approach-avoidance conflict that largely involved the late experimental psychologist Neal E. Miller. Particularly, individual hungry rats were placed upon an electrode-wired runway which, upon activation, generated electric shock within the runway’s floor grid at the endpoint where food was located. Scurrying toward food, rats typically stopped partway, indecisive of whether to approach or withdraw.
Such rats had encountered an impasse: They knew what they wanted, yet they were fearfully unwilling to continue advancing forward to achieve their goal.
Many of us have likely encountered strikingly similar situations of conflict in our own lives, instances of which may have involved various assortments of adverse internal and external obstacles (i.e., depression, anxiety, addiction, the endurance of disparaging comments, losses of loved ones, tough breaks, lack of cell phone service, flat tire, etc.).
How do we deal with conflict in our lives? What energizes our drive for pursuing personal ambitions? Furthermore, why do we sometimes stop short of achieving constructive aims which we have deemed as worthy aspirations, as bearing some distinct value and purpose that, once fulfilled, will contribute exponentially to the epitome of our very existence?
Hunger served as rats’ source of motivation in Miller’s studies. According to Miller’s review of his and others’ approach-avoidance research, increased food deprivation prompted rats to progress forward, although increasing voltages of electric shock reinforced avoidance behavior. Increases in the quantities of reinforced training trials, during which there was no shock, also resulted in rats achieving food during shock-administered trials.
How might we alleviate sources of conflict and stimulate goal-oriented approaches in our own lives? One may reasonably assert a person can evaluate his or her priorities and determine whether such are congruent or conflict with the objectives they wish to pursue. We may likewise focus on ways to make our attainable aspirations all the more appealing and worthy of our sincerest pursuits, especially during instances in which we encounter a grim impasse.
For further insight, consider another approach-avoidance conflict study by Miller, in which he documented how rats in one group who endured successive trials of incrementally increasing shock voltages at the endpoint outperformed those in another group who received only the most intense shock voltage at the goal.
Through challenges, we incrementally accumulate experience. Our experiences, in turn, can contribute to our successfully reaching our desired destinations.
Keith Huffman is a first-year doctoral student studying counselor education.
