The effect of modifying automatic action tendencies on overt avoidance behaviors.
Open accessAbstract
We used the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) to examine the role of automatic action tendencies. We hypothesized that, after manipulation of automatic action tendencies, participants would be more likely to approach feared objects when compared with participants in a control condition. Participants were instructed to push or pull a joystick, resulting in contamination-related and neutral pictures moving progressively away from or toward them, respectively. We manipulated approach by building a contingency between the arm movement and the picture type in the active condition but not in the control condition. Consistent with our hypothesis, participants in the active manipulation group showed facilitated automatic approach tendencies and reduced avoidance tendencies for contamination-related stimuli and completed more steps approaching their feared objects in a behavioral approach test compared with participants in the control group. Our results suggest that automatic action tendencies may play an important role in the maintenance of fear-related behavioral avoidance.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Using a procedure that enables modifying automatic action tendencies led individuals to approach more the feared objects than participants in a control condition.
“Indeed, it has been shown that using such a procedure (e.g., Approach-Avoidance Task) led individual to approach more the feared objects than participants in a control condition (Amir, Kuckertz, & Najmi, 2013).”
From Psychological Factors Involved in Sexual Desire, Sexual Activity, and Sexual Satisfaction: A Multi-factorial Perspective. (2016) · cites this paper as Amir, Kuckertz, & Najmi, 2013
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models
Sobel, M. E. (1982) · Sociological Methodology · doi:10.2307/270723 · Cited by 12,810 · see citing works
(2005) · CTIT technical reports series · Cited by 5,307 · see citing works
Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Social Behavior
Strack, F., & Deutsch, R. (2004) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0803_1 · Cited by 3,984 · see citing works
Methods for dealing with reaction time outliers.
Ratcliff, R. (1993) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.114.3.510 · Cited by 2,142 · see citing works
Distribution of the product confidence limits for the indirect effect: Program PRODCLIN
MacKinnon, D. P., Fritz, M. S., Williams, J. G., & Lockwood, C. M. (2007) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/bf03193007 · Cited by 1,328 · see citing works
Obsessional-compulsive complaints
HODGSON, R. J., & Rachman, S. (1977) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(77)90042-0 · Cited by 1,238 · see citing works
Wiers, R. W., Eberl, C., Rinck, M., Becker, E. S., & Lindenmeyer, J. (2011) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797611400615 · Cited by 912 · see citing works
Cacioppo, J. T., Priester, J. R., & Berntson, G. G. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.1.5 · Cited by 871 · see citing works
Approach and avoidance in fear of spiders
Rinck, M., & Becker, E. S. (2006) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.001 · Cited by 706 · see citing works
The effects of fear and anger facial expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors
Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E. (2005) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.5.1.119 · Cited by 588 · see citing works
Retraining automatic action-tendencies to approach alcohol in hazardous drinkers.
Wiers, R. W., Rinck, M., Kordts, R., Houben, K., & Strack, F. (2010) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02775.x · Cited by 582 · see citing works
Solarz, A. K. (1960) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0047274 · Cited by 398 · see citing works
Avoidance of emotional facial expressions in social anxiety: the approach-avoidance task
Heuer, K., Rinck, M., & Becker, E. S. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2007.08.010 · Cited by 380 · see citing works
Relatively strong automatic appetitive action‐tendencies in male carriers of the OPRM1 G‐allele
Wiers, R. W., Rinck, M., Dictus, M., & Van Den Wildenberg, E. (2009) · Genes, Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1111/j.1601-183x.2008.00454.x · Cited by 377 · see citing works
Kawakami, K., Phills, C. E., Steele, J. R., & Dovidio, J. F. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.957 · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Neumann, R., Hülsenbeck, K., & Seibt, B. (2003) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2003.10.006 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Najmi, S., & Amir, N. (2010) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017549 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Self-citationModifying automatic approach action tendencies in individuals with elevated social anxiety symptoms
Taylor, C. T., & Amir, N. (2012) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2012.05.004 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Self-citationCougle, J. R., Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Lee, H., & Telch, M. J. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.12.001 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Assessment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Emmelkamp, P. M. G., Kraaijkamp, H. J. M., & van den Hout, M. (1999) · Behavior Modification · doi:10.1177/0145445599232005 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Najmi, S., Kuckertz, J. M., & Amir, N. (2010) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2010.06.007 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationPsychometric Properties of a Behavioral Test of Contamination-Related Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms
Najmi, S., Tobin, A. C., & Amir, N. (2010) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-010-9332-0 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A meta-analysis of procedures to change implicit measures
Forscher, P. S., Lai, C. K., Axt, J. R., Ebersole, C. R., Herman, M., Devine, P. G., & Nosek, B. A. (2019) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000160 · Cited by 700 · see citing works
Avoidance learning: a review of theoretical models and recent developments
Krypotos, A.-M., Effting, M., Kindt, M., & Beckers, T. (2015) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00189 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Pittig, A., Treanor, M., LeBeau, R. T., & Craske, M. G. (2018) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.03.015 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Modeling Avoidance in Mood and Anxiety Disorders Using Reinforcement Learning
Mkrtchian, A., Aylward, J., Dayan, P., Roiser, J. P., & Robinson, O. J. (2017) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.01.017 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Loijen, A., Vrijsen, J. N., Egger, J. I. M., Becker, E. S., & Rinck, M. (2020) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101825 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Pathways towards the proliferation of avoidance in anxiety and implications for treatment.
Arnaudova, I., Kindt, M., Fanselow, M., & Beckers, T. (2017) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2017.04.004 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Dosch, A., Rochat, L., Ghisletta, P., Favez, N., & Van der Linden, M. (2016) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-014-0467-z · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Retraining automatic action tendencies in obesity
Mehl, N., Mueller-Wieland, L., Mathar, D., & Horstmann, A. (2018) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.03.031 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Instruction-Based Approach-Avoidance Effects
Dessel, P. V., Houwer, J. D., Gast, A., & Smith, C. T. (2014) · Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) · doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000282 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Refining Technology Threat Avoidance Theory
Carpenter, D., Young, D. K., Barrett, P., & McLeod, A. J., Jr. (2019) · Communications of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1cais.04422 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Approach–Avoidance Training Effects Are Moderated by Awareness of Stimulus–Action Contingencies
Dessel, P. V., Houwer, J. D., & Gast, A. (2015) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167215615335 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
The Effects of Approach–Avoidance Modification on Social Anxiety Disorder: A Pilot Study
Asnaani, A., Rinck, M., Becker, E. S., & Hofmann, S. G. (2013) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-013-9580-x · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Dessel, P. V., Houwer, J. D., Gast, A., Smith, C. T., & Schryver, M. D. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.11.002 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Dessel, P. V., Gawronski, B., Smith, C. T., & Houwer, J. D. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2016.10.004 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Vrijsen, J. N., Grafton, B., Koster, E. H. W., Lau, J. Y. F., Wittekind, C. E., Bar‐Haim, Y., Becker, E. S., Brotman, M. A., Joormann, J., Lazarov, A., et al. (2024) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2024.104557 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Effects of Approach-Avoidance Training on the Extinction and Return of Fear Responses
Krypotos, A., Arnaudova, I., Effting, M., Kindt, M., & Beckers, T. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131581 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Amir, N., Kuckertz, J. M., Najmi, S., & Conley, S. L. (2015) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-015-9675-7 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationBartoszek, G., & Winer, E. S. (2014) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.07.012 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Approach-Bias Retraining and Other Training Interventions as Add-On in the Treatment of AUD Patients
Wiers, R. W. H. J., Pan, T., Dessel, P. V., Rinck, M., & Lindenmeyer, J. (2023) · Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · doi:10.1007/7854_2023_421 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Weil, R., Feist, A., Moritz, S., & Wittekind, C. E. (2017) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2017.05.007 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Countering emotional behaviors in the treatment of borderline personality disorder.
Sauer-Zavala, S. E., Cassiello-Robbins, C. F., Woods, B. K., Curreri, A. J., Wilner, J. G., & Rassaby, M. M. (2020) · Personality Disorders Theory Research and Treatment · doi:10.1037/per0000379 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Intolerance for approach of ambiguity in social anxiety disorder
Kuckertz, J. M., Strege, M. V., & Amir, N. (2016) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2016.1145105 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationHoping for more: How cognitive science has and hasn't been helpful to the OCD clinician
Ouimet, A. J., Ashbaugh, A. R., & Radomsky, A. S. (2018) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2018.04.003 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
No effects of explicit approach-avoidance training on immediate consumption of soft drinks
Krishna, A., & Eder, A. B. (2018) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.08.023 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Neural changes in reward processing following approach-avoidance training for depression
Bomyea, J. A., Choi, S., Sweet, A. M., Stein, M. B., Paulus, M. P., & Taylor, C. T. (2021) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsab107 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Sauer-Zavala, S. E., Wilner, J. G., Cassiello-Robbins, C. F., Saraff, P. D., & Pagan, D. (2018) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2018.10.006 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Cheung‐Blunden, V., Cropper, K., Panis, A., & Davis, K. (2018) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000508 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
The influence of pre-training evaluative responses on approach-avoidance training outcomes
Krishna, A., & Eder, A. B. (2019) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2019.1568230 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Blankers, M., Salemink, E., & Wiers, R. W. H. J. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20852-7_10 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Basanovic, J., Page, J. T., & MacLeod, C. (2022) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2022.104052 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Implicit approach and avoidance in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Cludius, B., Külz, A. K., Landmann, S., Moritz, S., & Wittekind, C. E. (2017) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000269 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Kuckertz, J. M., Carmona, A. R., Chang, S. W., Piacentini, J. C., & Amir, N. (2015) · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1891/0889-8391.29.3.212 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationEnhancement of Self‐Conducted Exposure for OCD Using Cognitive Bias Modification: A Case Study
Najmi, S., & Amir, N. (2017) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.22451 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationBlankers, M., Salemink, E., & Wiers, R. W. H. J. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-59936-1_14 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Morein‐Zamir, S., & Anholt, G. E. (2021) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci11080979 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Evaluating Mechanisms: Mapping Weekly Dynamics between Experiential Avoidance and SAD Symptoms
Sarfan, L. D., Magee, J. C., & Clerkin, E. M. (2021) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-021-09899-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Approach and Conquer: Optimizing Fear Extinction by Adding Approach?
Carpentier, N., Scheveneels, S., & Hermans, D. (2024) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.1177/20438087241278134 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
When Fear Backfires: How Emotionality Reduces the Online Sharing of Threatening Messages
Cheung‐Blunden, V., & Zhou, E. (2025) · Digit. · doi:10.3390/digital5040052 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Kuckertz, J. M., Piacentini, J. C., & Amir, N. (2020) · Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2020.100528 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationTransfer of Approach-Avoidance Training: Motoric or Goal-Related?
Eder, A. B., & Krishna, A. (2023) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-023-00276-9 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Ouimet, A. J. (2013) · Spectrum Research Repository (Concordia University)
Approach-avoidance instructions and training as a method for changing implicit evaluations
Dessel, P. V. (2016) · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University)
Acute effects of AT1 receptor blockade on approach-avoidance of negative emotional faces
Prasad, D., Pelster, I., Outes, L. P., Gillespie, A. L., Pizzagalli, D. A., Rinck, M., & Reinecke, A. (2026) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/s41386-026-02554-4
Eberl, C. (2014) · Radboud Repository (Radboud University)
- Authors
- Amir, N., Kuckertz, J. M., & Najmi, S.
- Affiliations
- San Diego State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Amir, Nader
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2013-06
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 478-484
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- PMC
- PMC3651769
- OpenAlex
- W2326418918
- Semantic Scholar
- e3123e97226516fd20f97b566e3780c3fefbbda9
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 5.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (R01 MH087623-03; R34MH073004-01)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- behavioral avoidance, approach-avoidance behavior, fear, contamination, approach-avoidance task, contingency learning
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Consciousness, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Phobic Disorders, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
