title: The art of anger: reward context turns avoidance responses to anger-related objects into approach.
abstract: Anger has a special status among the emotions in that it can elicit avoidance as well as approach motivation. This study tested the ignored role of reward context in potentiating approach rather than avoidance responses toward objects associated with anger. In Experiment 1, angry and neutral facial expressions were parafoveally paired with common objects, and responses to the objects were assessed by subjective reports of motivation to obtain them. In Experiment 2, objects were again paired with angry or neutral faces outside of participants' awareness, and responses toward the objects were indexed by physical effort expended in attempting to win them. Results showed that approach motivation toward anger-related objects can be observed when responding is framed in terms of rewards that one can obtain, whereas avoidance motivation occurs in the absence of such a reward context. These findings point to the importance of a reward context in modulating people's responses to anger.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University, Department of Psychology, Utrecht, The Netherlands. h.aarts@uu.nl
authors.forename: Henk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aarts
authors.forename: Kirsten I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Ruys
authors.forename: Harm
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Veling
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Renes
authors.forename: Jasper H B
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: van Nunen
authors.forename: Sarit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geertjes
mesh_terms: D000786:Anger; D001245:Association Learning; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D001364:Awareness; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D009769:Object Attachment; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012201:Reward; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation