2026 Motivations, Emotion, and Personality Practice Test – Complete Exam Prep

Approach-Avoidance Conflict. The key idea is a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive elements, so you feel pulled toward it and pushed away from it at the same time. This creates a tug-of-war in your mind as you weigh the positive outcomes against the negative ones. For example, taking a promotion might mean more money and prestige (attractive) but also longer hours or more stress (unattractive). That internal push-pull is exactly what this conflict describes.

Lewin's Motivational Conflicts Theory is a broader framework that includes this type among others (such as approach-approach and avoidance-avoidance), but the description given—psychological struggles when deciding to approach or avoid a single goal—maps most directly to approach-avoidance conflict. The other types involve choices between two positive options or two negative options, not the single-goal tug.