The embodiment of approach motivation

People may be best served by having a system in place that is sensitive to changing situational demands and that prompts action when action is needed. Fortunately, people do have such a system, the motivated perceptual system. This chapter reviews a growing body of work that suggests people perceive objects as closer when those objects are related to reward or threat given the need to act in response to possible rewards and threats. It also reviews research suggesting that desirable objects related to approach and acquisition tendencies appear closer than less desirable objects. The chapter highlights research suggesting that threatening objects related to defensive behavioral tendencies appear closer than non-threatening objects. These two lines of work converge to suggest that when an object requires action, people misperceive that object as closer. The ecological approach articulated by Gibson and others proposed that people perceive the environment in light of how they are acting within it.