The Effect Of Motivational Conflict On Compulsion

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder characterized by obsessions and compulsions. Living in the real society, the patients often perceive an intense conflict between compulsion and anti-compulsion, which have received some attention from researchers. It is assumed that the core component of the conflict is the motivational conflict between social motivation and security motivation. The psychopathological role of the motivational conflict in OCD has also been explored. The developer of double conflicts model analyzed the roles of psychological trauma and emotion regulation in OCD and offered a novel and comprehensive explanation from perspective of motivational conflict. Their basic assumptions of compulsion were that (a) compulsion is just a kind of compromised security behavior, (b) motivational conflict affects the selection of security behaviors, making compulsion the only choice, and that (c) motivational conflict affects the stopping criteria of security behaviors. To confirm the assumptions, one survey and two experiments were carried out in the current study, using both healthy subjects and patients. Considering the maneuverability of the study on one hand and the generalizability of the conclusions on the other hand, we restricted the symptoms to compulsive washing and compulsive checking. This study included three parts:Study 1 explored whether motivational conflict has influence on the severity of compulsion using Structural Equation Modeling.257 undergraduates participated in the survey. Their security motivation, social motivation, motivational conflict and compulsion were measured by selected or newly developed questionnaires. After the measurement models were confirmed, structural model were then constructed and analyzed to check the fitness. The results indicated that (a) all of the measurement models were satisfactory, (b) both the mediator and moderator roles of motivational conflict were confirmed. Thus the compulsion sub-model was confirmed and the hypothesis that motivational conflict affects the severity of compulsion was supported.Study 2 investigated the role of motivational conflict in subjective criteria bias in an experimental wash.86 undergraduates were randomly assigned to four conditions, and a 2 (contamination level:contamination VS neutral) X 2 (award level:award VS no award) X 2 (type of criteria:objective VS subjective) three-factor mixed design with type of criteria as within subject factor was employed. Motivational conflict was manipulated by inductions of contamination and award. In the award induction, subjects were told that the more quickly they wash, the more likely they get the award. After all inductions, they started the experimental wash, followed by an inventory measuring the criteria they used to terminate the wash. Results:(a) the subjects in the motivational conflict condition reported significant subjective criteria bias, and (b) the bias was correlated to the urge to finish washing and the effort in the decision making process. These results indicate that subjective criteria bias might be a strategy used by individuals to regulate their security behaviors when motivational conflict conflicts exist.Study 3 investigated (a) whether there exists a kind of security behavior which is more effective than compulsion in eliminating potential threats, and (b) whether compulsion is an compromised security behaviors chosen when confronting motivational conflict. Participants in the material rating section included undergraduates (n=24) and OCD patients (n=24). Participants in the experiment section included undergraduates (n=24), OCD patients with compulsive washing as main symptom (n=11), and OCD patients with other symptom as main complaint (n=24). In the material rating section, two dimensions of effectiveness and cost were rated for 4 kinds of security behaviors, namely doing nothing, slight washing, repeated washing and discard. In the experiment, a 3 (group)×10 (contamination level)×4 (type of security behavior) three-factor mixed design with contamination level and type of security behavior as within subject factors was employed. Results:(a) In eliminating potential threats, discard is more effective than repeated washing. However, discard also cost most, (b) all groups showed similar mode of decision making. When the contamination level was low (1%), slight washing was selected most. When the contamination level was median (30%), repeated washing was selected most. When the contamination level was high (75%), discard was selected most.Main conclusions of this study were:(1) Motivational conflict affects the severity of compulsion.(2) Motivational conflict causes subject criteria bias in terminating security behaviors.(3) OCD patients can fully realize the existence of security behavior which is more effective than compulsion.(4) When risk is relatively high, motivational conflict causes OCD patients to select compulsion, which is a compromised security behavior then.