When goals compete: the impact of various types of goal conflict on pain-related fear and pain-related decision-making

Successful adjustment to complex environments requires the simultaneous pursuit of multiple goals. However, the pursuit of one goal can hamper the pursuit of another concurrent goal, bringing about goal conflicts. Despite evidence indicating that goal conflict may have a detrimental effect on subjective well-being, little is known about the effects of goal conflicts in a context of pain. The current study wished to experimentally investigate whether different types of goal conflict are associated with changes in pain-related fear and pain-related decision-making. Therefore, forty-six participants completed a cross-directional movement task in which participants first learned to associate movements in one direction (e.g. left) with pain, and movements in the opposite direction (e.g. right) with safety. Next, participants learned that movements in another direction (e.g. up) were associated with reward, and movements in the opposite direction (e.g. down) with loss. In the test phase, both phases were combined, creating different types of goal conflict: approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance conflict. The results show that participants reported highest fear and least willingness to perform movements associated with two concurrent avoidance goals, and the least fear and highest willingness to perform movements associated with two concurrent approach goals. Participants reported intermediate levels of fear and willingness for approach-avoidance conflicts. Choice latencies indicate that participants were slower to make a choice when presented with an avoidance-avoidance conflict compared to approach-approach and avoidance-approach conflicts.status: publishe