Approach–avoidance conflict occurs when one goal carries both attractive and threatening consequences. Moving closer can intensify reasons to retreat, producing oscillation. This pattern can reflect strong competing motives rather than weak commitment, and changing the goal’s consequences can change the conflict.
- Entry typeKey concept
- Category of its source unitTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainConflict & Negotiation
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Entry type
Key concept
Key concepts are the working vocabulary of the field: the terms that the models and tools rely on and that a decision about communication has to use precisely. Each entry defines the term and sends you to the brief or the self-guided audit where it is put to work.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.