Abstract
Choosing between 2 unpleasant alternatives (Would you rather be less intelligent or less attractive?) is more difficult than choosing between two desirable options (Would you rather be more intelligent or more attractive?). Here I describe a classroom demonstration of avoidance–avoidance conflicts. Students make a series of approach–approach and avoidance–avoidance choices. The avoidance choices take longer to make than the approach decisions. The students also rate the avoidance choices as less satisfactory, more difficult to make, and subject to change. Avoidance conflicts are relevant to contemporary ideas of loss aversion, decision making, and negative self-evaluation.