Approach-Avoidance Conflict in the Mother-Surrogate Situation

Abstract

"During the first five and one-half months of life 2 rnesus monkeys were intermittently blasted with compressed air, an aversive stimulus, while contacting a cloth surrogate. They spent significantly more time on the surrogates than 4 control infants having equal access to the standard cloth surrogate. The results contrast with expectations based on Neal Miller''s formulation of approach-withdrawal conflict behavior. The generality of Miller''s formulation is therefore questioned. ".