Approach-avoidance action tendencies: A replicable approach/avoidance compatibility effect can be found when valence is task irrelevant

Abstract

Attitude objects (e.g., social groups) are assumed to elicit behavioral responses without thoughtful processing of their valence. Despite a theoretical consensus on this assumption, empirical evidence is mixed. To address this question, we provide evidence that approach-avoidance action tendencies are triggered by attitude objects when participants do not need to process objects' valence to perform the task. We did so with a version of the Visual Approach-Avoidance by the Self Task (VAAST, Rougier et al., 2018) in which participants were primed with a positive or negative word and then had to approach/avoid a neutral target. Across seven experiments we consistently found approach-avoidance compatibility effects (i.e., faster response times to approach a neutral target preceded by a positive [vs. negative] prime and to avoid a neutral target preceded by a negative [vs. positive] prime), even when introducing challenging manipulations. These effects yielded evidential p-values, they were robust across data-analytic decisions, and experiments were highly powered. This work corroborates theories predicting action triggering without thoughtful processing and could be the basis for studying action tendencies associated with various social stimuli (e.g., ingroup and outgroup individuals).