@article{ref1,
title="Between the devil and the deep blue sea: avoidance-avoidance competition increases pain-related fear and slows down decision-making",
journal="Journal of Pain",
year="2015",
author="Claes, Nathalie and Crombez, Geert and Meulders, Ann and Vlaeyen, Johan W. S.",
volume="17",
number="4",
pages="424-435",
abstract="Successful adjustment to dynamic environments requires the simultaneous pursuit of multiple goals. However, the pursuit of multiple goals may bring about goal conflict. Despite evidence indicating that goal conflict can have a detrimental effect on subjective well-being, little is known about the effects of goal competition in the context of pain. This experiment investigated whether different types of goal competition increase pain-related fear and slow down pain-related decision-making. Forty-six participants completed a cross-directional movement task in which they learned to associate movements in one direction (e.g. left) with pain, and movements in the opposite direction (e.g. right) with safety; and that movements in other directions (e.g. up - down) were associated with reward and loss of reward, respectively. In the test phase, both phases were combined, creating different types of goal competition. The results showed that participants were most afraid of movements associated with two concurrent avoidance goals, and the least afraid of movements associated with approach-approach conflict. Additionally, participants were slower in making a choice when presented with an avoidance-avoidance conflict compared to approach-approach and avoidance-approach conflicts. These findings suggest that avoidance-avoidance conflicts increase fear and slow down decision-making compared to other types of conflict. PERSPECTIVE: This study provides experimental evidence for the differential impact of various goal conflicts on pain-related fear and decision-making. This knowledge may improve our understanding of patients' behavior when experiencing goal conflict and may contribute to improving treatments by addressing multiple goals patients are pursuing, and not just pain avoidance/reduction.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1526-5900",
doi="10.1016/j.jpain.2015.12.005",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2015.12.005"
}