Response duration as a measure of ambivalent response tendencies.

The article proposes a new technique for evaluating motives, using length of time spent looking at heterosexual stimuli relative to time spent looking at neutral stimuli as the measure of approach-avoidance tendencies, and correlating this measure with a criterion of ratings of approach-avoidance behavior of 36 neuropsychiatric patients toward a group of student nurses. It was predicted that a positive relationship would be found between these measures. The procedure consisted of allowing the subjects to look at a set of 60 slides, 30 of which contained pictures of heterosexual activities, and 30 of which contained neutral pictures. The length of time spent looking at each picture was measured. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between response duration scores and approach/avoidance ratings. A tentative explanation of the fact that avoiders tended to look at all slides longer than persons rated as approachers, yet looked at heterosexual slides for shorter periods of time than neutral slides, while the reverse was true of approachers, was advanced in terms of researcher P. McReynolds' theory of motivation. The possible usefulness of the response duration technique for the study of motivated behavior is discussed.