Document gDakqbJEB4GgyZ4dyBEm4OEkV

Human Behavior and Industrial Safety (Fig 6-4) The worker who is striving for top production may be forced to take unnecessary risks to achieve that goal The only way out of such a conflict is the erasing or weakening FlC 6-3 -- Avoidance-avoidanceccHiflict individual is repelled by two equally negative goals mg goes, "Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea " Two kinds of behavior generally result from such a conflict--vascillation and flight In vascillation, the individual approaches one goal, retreats, approaches the other, re treats, and so on As he approaches a goal, the unpleasant portions of the goal increase, so he withdraws In the example above, the worker may stall off his doing the job requir ing wearing the equipment, until the quitting bell sounds And then, of course, it is too late for that day, and he can agonize over the de cision the next morning Another resultant from the avoidance-avoid ance conflict is flight The athlete may leave the field, the worker may quit his job This of course has serious consequences in lost prestige or lost income A more common type of fleeing, therefore, is m a figurative sense --like daydreaming, fantasy, etc The worker faced with an un pleasant task may repress the reality by day dreaming The avoidance-avoidance conflict is not as easy to resolve as the approach-approach, nor is it as difficult as the next conflict tvpe dis cussed Approach-avoidance The "approach-avoidance" conflict is the most difficult to resolve The individual is both attracted and repelled by the same goal FiC 6-4 -- Approach-avoidance conflict goal has both positive and negative valence This is the most difficult to resolve one of the signs, thereby altering the in dividual's internal motivational system The approach-avoidance conflict is further complicated by the notion of a goal gradient for positive and negative goals, as pictured in Fig 6-5 Other things being equal, the closer one is to a goal the "stronger" it is Negative goals, however, are stronger than positive ones the closer one is to the goal Conversely, positive goals appear stronger than negative ones the farther away one is from the goal So as the individual ap proaches an approach-avoidance goal, the negative or repelling aspects of the goal ap pear stronger This may lead to retreat which will result in vascillation and indecision The approach-avoidance situation is common Reaction to frustration In most cases, the conflicts described will lead to frustration This frustration may often lead to positive, constructive resolution of the situation For example, the individual who is facing the conflict of top production, but at increased risk, may develop a new sys tem for processing the product at a faster and safer rate 132