title: The right side? Under time pressure, approach motivation leads to right-oriented bias.
abstract: Approach motivation, a focus on achieving positive outcomes, is related to relative left-hemispheric brain activation, which translates to a variety of right-oriented behavioral biases. In two studies, we found that approach-motivated individuals display a right-oriented bias, but only when they are forced to act quickly. In a task in which they had to divide lines into two equal parts, approach-motivated individuals bisected the line at a point farther to the right than avoidance-motivated individuals did, but only when they worked under high time pressure. In our analysis of all Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup penalty shoot-outs, we found that goalkeepers were two times more likely to dive to the right than to the left when their team was behind, a situation that we conjecture induces approach motivation. Because penalty takers shot toward the two sides of the goal equally often, the goalkeepers' right-oriented bias was dysfunctional, allowing more goals to be scored. Directional biases may facilitate group coordination but prove maladaptive in individual settings and interpersonal competition.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Weesperplein 4, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.roskes@uva.nl
authors: Marieke
authors: M
authors: Roskes
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Sligte
authors: Shaul
authors: S
authors: Shalvi
authors: Carsten K W
authors: CK
authors: De Dreu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult