Attitudinal Ambivalence Research Articles

Certainty in holistic thinking and responses to contradiction: Dialectical proverbs, counter‐attitudinal change and ambivalence

AbstractThe present research examined whether consideration of individuals' certainty in their holism can enhance the ability of this individual difference to predict how they respond to contradiction‐relevant outcomes. Across four studies, participants first completed a standardized measure of holistic‐analytic thinking. Then, they rated how certain they were in their responses to the holism scale or were experimentally induced to feel high or low certainty. Next, participants were exposed to dialectical proverbs (Study 1a and 1b), to a counter‐attitudinal change induction (Study 2), or to a paradigm of attitudinal ambivalence (Study 3). Results revealed that participants with higher certainty in their holistic thinking exhibited higher preference for dialectical proverbs (Study 1a and 1b), changed their attitude less following a counter‐attitudinal task (Study 2) and showed weaker correspondence between objective and subjective ambivalence (Study 3). Beyond examining new domains and discovering novel findings, the present work was designed to be the first to show moderation of previously identified effects in the domain of holistic thinking and responses to contradiction.

Understanding consumers’ acceptance of edible food packaging: The role of consumer innovativeness

Edible food packaging helps address the problem of solid waste generated by conventional packaging, but consumers' acceptance of this novel practice remains uncertain. To understand the factors influencing consumers’ purchase behaviors, this research explored the effects of consumer innovativeness, attitudinal ambivalence, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitudes through an online survey. The results identified the impact of consumer innovativeness on perceptions of buying foods with edible packaging and the moderating role of attitudinal ambivalence. The findings extend the use of diffusion of innovation, planned behavior, and ambivalence theories, offering valuable recommendations for practitioners in the foodservice industries.

Do uncontrolled processes contribute to evaluative learning? Insights from a new two-US process dissociation procedure and ambivalence measures.

The contribution of uncontrolled processes to evaluative learning has been examined in evaluative conditioning procedures by comparing evaluations of conditioned stimuli between tasks or within tasks but between learning instruction conditions. In the present research, we introduced a new procedure that keeps both tasks and instructions constant. In addition, we introduced ambivalence measures to address this uncontrollability question. The new procedure involves forming an impression of conditioned stimuli based on their pairing with one unconditioned stimulus while attending but discarding the influence of another unconditioned stimulus holding the same (congruent trials) versus a different (incongruent trials) valence. When the to-be-used and to-be-discarded unconditioned stimuli share the same (vs. a different) valence, controlled and uncontrolled processes should support the same (vs. opposite) responses. We used this approach in two preregistered experiments (Ntotal = 467) using dichotomous evaluative classifications (Experiments 1 and 2), evaluative ratings, and two measures of attitudinal ambivalence: mouse trajectories and felt ambivalence (Experiment 2). While we failed to find evidence for uncontrolled processes in evaluative classification frequencies separately in Experiments 1 and 2, analyses of aggregated classification frequencies across Experiments 1 and 2 suggested a small contribution of uncontrolled processes. In addition, we found larger felt ambivalence for incongruent than congruent trials. Overall, the present findings are mixed but support the possibility of a contribution of uncontrolled processes to evaluative learning, even when control is applied to a focal stimulus and additional influences come from a to-be-disregarded stimulus.

Political Ideology and Attitudinal Ambivalence: Investigating the Role of Ideological Extremity

Are individual differences in political ideology associated with inclinations to hold more or less ambivalent attitudes? Extant research on the linear association of political ideology with attitudinal ambivalence yielded inconsistent findings. The present research tested the hypotheses (a) that the association of political ideology with attitudinal ambivalence is curvilinear with lower levels of ambivalence at both extremes of the ideological spectrum and (b) that higher political interest is associated with lower levels of attitudinal ambivalence. It used data from large and demographically diverse electoral surveys in a set of three studies (Study 1: N = 13,808; Study 2: N = 6,528; Study 3: N = 4,789) that focused on attitudes toward political candidates (Studies 1 and 2) as well as political parties (Study 3) in Germany. Overall, the results support both hypotheses even when general attitudes toward the politicians and parties are controlled in the analyses.

Gendered Ambivalence: The Structure of Attitudes About Female Candidates

ABSTRACT I argue that the gender-role incongruity between being a woman and the masculine stereotypes of political leadership roles will lead to more ambivalence about women relative to men and that gendered traits will comprise the content of these ambivalent attitudes. I analyze attitudinal ambivalence toward female candidates using ANES data. The results find that ambivalence is higher among voters who hold cross-pressured identities as strong partisans with sexist beliefs for both Democratic and Republican women. In 2016, individuals held stronger ambivalent attitudes about Hillary Clinton even among strong Democrats but there was very little ambivalence in attitudes about Trump.

How people perceive dispositionally (non-) ambivalent others and why it matters

While research has studied the consequences of being ambivalent about a single attitude object, we know little about how dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets are perceived. Across six experiments we examined how people perceive and mentally represent dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent others, and how people expect to interact with dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a non-ambivalent target was expected to share fewer resources relative to ambivalent targets. Using a reverse correlation paradigm, Experiment 2 demonstrated that people have different mental representations of dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets, who were evaluated differently on a range of outcomes. Experiment 3 demonstrated that participants could link descriptions of attitudinal ambivalence to representations of dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent faces. Experiment 4 demonstrated that a non-ambivalent target was perceived as most likely to be unfair to others. Experiment 5 demonstrated that representations of dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets influenced perceptions of the targets' values, willingness to help others, and suitability for looking after a sick relative. Experiment 6 replicated Experiment 5, using verbal descriptions of targets' ambivalence. Across experiments, warmth and competence mediated effects of dispositional ambivalence on outcomes. Overall, dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets are perceived differently, and a target's inferred dispositional ambivalence influences how they are evaluated.

Consumer purchase intention of new energy vehicles with an extended technology acceptance model: The role of attitudinal ambivalence

Consumer purchase intention of new energy vehicles with an extended technology acceptance model: The role of attitudinal ambivalence

Climate-friendly food-choice intentions among emerging adults: extending the theory of planned behavior with objective ambivalence, climate-change worry and optimism.

Climate-friendly food choices are still relatively rarely addressed in studies investigating climate engagement, particularly among young people. To address this research gap, we conducted a questionnaire study with senior high school students (N = 474). Our overarching theoretical framework is the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which we extended with emotional factors (climate-change worry and optimism) and attitudinal ambivalence. We found that all factors included, except for optimism, correlated with the food-choice intentions. In multiple regression analyses, worry was the second strongest predictor, after attitudes. Moreover, a measure of objective ambivalence moderated the correlation between attitudes and intentions by weakening it. The results support the validity of using the TPB model when explaining intentions to make climate-friendly food choices among emerging adults. However, our results suggest that it is also important to consider emotions-in this case climate-change worry-and the existence of conflicting evaluations about choosing climate-friendly food.

Bioecological representations and social characteristics of students influence their attitudes toward wild vertebrates

BackgroundThe origin of different human emotions directed towards animals (whether in the utilitarian, affective, conflictual, or cosmological context) is strongly influenced by sociocultural factors, although our genetic predispositions also play an important role in the origin of these emotions. Such emotions guide people’s representations of different species, which in turn affect their attitudes toward them. For this reason, understanding the factors that guide such attitudes becomes a key element in making conservationist decisions. In this sense, the main objective of this study was to analyze how sociocultural characteristics and bioecological representations can influence students’ attitudes of empathy or antipathy towards vertebrate species; as well as which classes and species are related to greater and lesser support in people for their conservation.MethodsTo do so, 667 interviews were conducted with students from urban (n = 1) and rural (n = 2) schools in the Brazilian semi-arid region. We used mixed generalized linear models (GLMM) to examine the effect of social factors and bioecological representations on empathy and antipathy attitudes and multiple factor analysis (MFA) to examine the relationship between the biological characteristics of the animals (positive or negative) and the attitudes toward them (antipathetic or empathetic).ResultsThrough GLMM, we found that students from the urban area and from lower school levels are more extreme in their responses, more frequently expressing both empathy and antipathy towards wild animals. Regarding gender, women had a higher frequency of responses associated with aversion than men for species perceived as dangerous and poisonous (p < 0.001). Through the MFA, we found greater support (empathy) for the conservation of fish species (31.56%), birds (29.37%) and mammals (25.94%), with emphasis on the Red-cowled cardinal (Paroaria dominicana) and clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) species, and less support (antipathy) for reptile and amphibian species such as rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus) and horned frogs (Ceratophrys joazeirensis).ConclusionsThe attitudinal ambivalence reflected by varying empathy for certain species and antipathy to others has important implications for wildlife conservation. Understanding the socioeconomic factors and emotions that influence attitudes towards animals can enable integrating educational strategies for the conservation of species, especially those which are culturally important.

Avid, Averse, Apprehensive, or Apathetic? A typology of collaboration attitudes

AbstractAs much of nonprofit management research on inter‐organizational collaboration has focused on various macro and meso aspects of collaboration, little is known about micro aspects such as the attitudes of individuals involved in collaboration. To contribute to a more holistic and multidisciplinary understanding of collaboration, this study draws upon social psychological theories about attitude structure and attitudinal ambivalence to explore the variation in attitudes that nonprofit leaders have toward collaboration opportunities. Based on interviews with the leaders of 20 US‐based transnational nonprofits in the field of child welfare, the study qualitatively identifies four major types of attitudes toward collaboration opportunities: Avid, Averse, Apprehensive, and Apathetic. The study then presents several propositions to facilitate a future research program for the integration of attitudes into collaboration research. Practical policy and managerial implications are also discussed.

A Systematic Study of Ambivalence and Well-Being in Romantic Relationships

People in close relationships can, and often do, experience ambivalence (i.e., mixed feelings) toward their romantic partner. Although ambivalence is common and consequential, research on this phenomenon is fragmented. The present work examines how four different types of ambivalence (i.e., objective, subjective, implicit-explicit, and implicit ambivalence) relate to well-being. In four intensive studies (N = 1,134) and internal meta-analyses, ambivalence was related to lower personal and relational well-being, but this association was only statistically significant for explicit (i.e., objective and subjective) types of ambivalence, with subjective ambivalence showing the strongest association, particularly for relationship outcomes. This work is the first systematic study of ambivalence and well-being in relationships and highlights the importance of capturing mixed feelings in relationship research and how such focus can benefit research on attitudinal ambivalence and well-being more broadly.

Does co-occurrence information influence evaluations beyond relational meaning? An investigation using self-reported and mouse-tracking measures of attitudinal ambivalence.

People occasionally encounter information of which the structure bears divergent evaluative implications. For instance, when reading that a sunscreen protects against skin cancer, the relational meaning of the information (i.e., "protects against skin cancer") has positive evaluative implications for the sunscreen, whereas the co-occurrence (of "sunscreen" with "skin cancer") is negative. An important theoretical (and practical) issue is whether the co-occurrence information influences people's evaluations beyond the relational meaning of the information. This question has been recently investigated using task comparison procedures (comparing evaluative outcomes on different tasks) and process dissociation procedures (estimating relational and co-occurrence parameters within a given task). In this article, we report four experiments that examined this question by reducing interpretational ambiguities inherent in the two preceding approaches. This was achieved by using self-reported and mouse-tracking measures of ambivalence. We reasoned that when co-occurrence and relational information have divergent (rather than convergent) evaluative implications, more ambivalence should be found. We tested this prediction in experiential (Experiments 1 to 3) and instructed (Experiment 4) procedures. Higher self-reported ambivalence was found in divergent compared to convergent conditions in all experiments. Ambivalence, as estimated with mouse-tracking measures, was higher in divergent than in convergent conditions in the experiential experiments but not in the instructed experiment. Results are discussed with reference to single-process (propositional and episodic) and dual-process attitude learning models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Attitudinal Ambivalence on Redistribution: Causes and Electoral Implications Across Europe

While support for redistribution remains high across Europe, voting for left-wing parties, traditionally identified with this agenda, has been under par. Past research explains this puzzle by class-based disagreements about redistributive priorities and by second-dimension attitudes. These explanations, however, assume coherent voter preferences reacting to structural changes. By contrast, I argue that part of the puzzle also lies in attitudinal ambivalence—simultaneous negative and positive evaluations—regarding redistributive policy. Using cross-sectional public opinion and party position data, I find that such ambivalence increases with lower political sophistication, greater value conflict, and weaker economic need. Electorally, it deepens detachment between support for redistribution and left-wing self-identification and increases voting for more economically and culturally right-wing parties. These patterns hold independently of class differences and second-dimension attitudes and replicate stably in earlier data. The findings contribute to ongoing debates about attitude structures and voting patterns and illuminate an additional challenge for economically progressive parties.

Strategies of personification of the image of London: From binary conflicts to systems

The article is devoted to the city of London as one of the main topoi of British literature. London acquires the status of a central image in the Victorian novel where its anthropomorphism is created by binary conflicts of richness and poverty, splendor and dirt, good and evil, etc. Victorians saw London as a city of contrasts. Contemporary citizens talk about it in terms of diversity and ambiguity. British literature has developed the image of London into complex entangled systems, which reflects the present-day collective sensitivity to subjective attitudinal ambivalence and multiplicity of correct opinions. The article contemplates the images of the biggest and the greatest, city on earth in London by E. Rutherford (1997), London: The Biography by P. Ackroyd (2000), and Capital by J. Lanchester (2012). All the novels proceed from the anthropocentric presuppositions, i.e. from the perspective of the new genre of an urban biography. An urban biography as a genre gives new potency to the axiological dimension of a literary work since it remodels the reader’s perception and estranges (defamiliarizes) the object whether it is the history, politics, or social processes of Great Britain. The British novels under consideration manifest various intentions of their authors, which results in different strategies of estrangement. The article observes a variety of means of constructing anthropomorphic structures of the novels: physiological personification in Ackroyd’s, a cultural-historical excursion in Rutherford’s, and a contemporary social snapshot creating a critical public sphere in Lanchester’s narrative. The tendency to transfer topoi into anthropomorphic images is explained by the trend toward general dehumanization in the posthuman era.

Attitude-Behavior Gap in Green Consumption Behavior: A Review

Although consumers are willing to purchase green products to prevent or alleviate environmental degradation, their positive attitude towards green products does not always translate into action. This phenomenon is called the attitude-behavior gap/consistency in the context of green consumption. In the era when sustainable development has become a critical social and economic trend, the research on this issue is of great significance. However, the existing research has not given an extensive explanation for how the phenomenon occurs, nor has a summary of the various factors that lead to the phenomenon and how they affect the purchase behavior of environmental protection. This article reviews the underlying mechanisms of attitude-behavior gap in green consumption behavior, and summarizes the empirical studies at individual level since 2010 from three aspects: 1) the formation and change of consumers' demand for green products, 2) the change of consumer behavior in the process of green demand being satisfied and 3) the influence of consumer's psychological cognition on attitude-behavior gap, and integrate them with the relevant researches in the fields of marketing and social norms. This paper also proposes some future research opportunities, such as attitudinal ambivalence, learning and trust mechanisms, the scope of behavior subject, cross-cultural issues, uncertainty factors, and measurement methods.

A Cognitive-Emotional Model From Mobile Short-Form Video Addiction to Intermittent Discontinuance: The Moderating Role of Neutralization

Discontinuance is considered very effective in the treatment of IT addiction. However, prior literature on the mechanism from IT addiction to discontinuance has reached inconsistent conclusions. Also, scholars cannot explain why some individuals do not make any changes after becoming addicted, even when they realize that their behavior is not in line with the norms. To fill the gaps, our research developed a cognitive-emotional model, with neutralization as a moderator, to understand the internal mechanism from mobile short-form video addiction to intermittent discontinuance. Based on the online survey of 493 Chinese mobile short-form video users, this study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to empirically verify our model and hypothesis. The results show that mobile short-form video addiction positively affects cognitive dissonance and emotional fluctuation. And cognitive dissonance and emotional fluctuation are found to have a positive effect on intermittent discontinuance through attitudinal ambivalence. Furthermore, neutralization negatively moderates the relationship between cognitive dissonance and attitudinal ambivalence, emotional fluctuation and attitudinal ambivalence. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Strengthening personalized norm feedback interventions: The ambivalent-attitude effect

This study investigated the effect of induced attitude ambivalence on the relationship between the personalized norm feedback (PNF) intervention and heavy drinking by college students. College students consume more alcohol and engage in binge drinking at greater rates than most segments of the population. Given the harmful effects of binge drinking and other risky drinking behaviors, it is important to implement effective interventions to reduce alcohol consumption. PNF is an effective intervention for reducing heavy drinking where students compare their drinking and perceptions of normative drinking with actual drinking norms. Past research suggests that inducing ambivalence makes norms a stronger predictor of behavior. We hypothesized that induced attitudinal ambivalence before the PNF intervention would lower intentions to consume alcohol. This study was a one-way design with ambivalence about drinking (high vs low) as the independent variable and intentions to drink alcohol in the future as the dependent variable (N = 338, 76 % female, Mage = 19.76, SD = 2.61). All participants received the PNF intervention after the ambivalence manipulation and before the intentions to drink alcohol measure. Results from the generalized linear model revealed a significant effect for ambivalence, p =.028. As predicted, participants in the high ambivalence condition intended to drink fewer drinks in one sitting in the future compared to those in the low ambivalence condition. These results suggest that ambivalence may play an important role in make PNF interventions more effective, though more research is necessary to untangle the relationship between ambivalence and norms.

Making Sense of Being Mixed: Work-Related Effects of Attitudinal and Emotional Ambivalence

Ambivalence – the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions and/or cognitions towards a given target – is generally considered costly for employees. However, scholarship disagrees as to whether that premise holds. Research on attitudinal and emotional ambivalence is siloed in distinct literatures that call on different theoretical foundations and reveal discrepant effects of ambivalence. Attitudinal ambivalence scholars generally argue that it is undesirable, prompting biased information processing, behavioral hesitation, and withdrawal. Emotional ambivalence scholars instead argue that ambivalence is desirable, enhancing cognitive flexibility and judgment accuracy. To achieve greater construct clarity on attitudinal versus emotional ambivalence and reconcile prevailing views, we developed an integrative framework and used it to guide meta-analytic tests of 108 papers, 186 studies, and 355 effect sizes. Results revealed that attitudinal and emotional ambivalence are overlapping constructs, and both are associated with subjective feelings of internal conflict. Findings also showed that both forms of ambivalence similarly curtail action but enhance learning. Finally, results demonstrated that a closure imperative – a contextual moderator capturing a requirement to decide, judge, or estimate – weakened the relationships of attitudinal and emotional ambivalence with learning. Our findings offer suggestions for how ambivalence can reduce biased thinking in organizations.

Bridging the Trust Gap in Influencer Marketing: Ways to Sustain Consumers’ Trust and Assuage Their Distrust in the Social Media Influencer Landscape

While consumers’ trust in social media influencers (SMIs) has spurred the growth of influencer marketing, consumers have come to distrust what these SMIs say recently. Despite this trend reversal that the industry is undergoing, academic efforts to investigate whether, and if so, why, consumers experience such attitudinal ambivalence in trust and distrust in the SMI landscape is notably lacking. Building upon the concept of attitudinal ambivalence between trust and distrust, this study addresses this gap in the literature. The study used a mixed-method approach. In Study 1, we conducted an exploratory, qualitative study using two focus group interviews. During the interviews, participants were asked to discuss the open-ended questions freely, which included such questions as “What do you think about your choice of SMI in terms of trustworthiness?” and “If you trust (or distrust, or feel ambivalent toward) SMIs, why?” Based upon the findings from Study 1, Study 2 developed and tested empirically the conceptual framework that describes the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ ambivalence within the SMI context: (1) whether SMIs’ personality traits (similarity and attractiveness) and content attributes (visual appeal and informativeness) promote consumers’ trust in the SMIs; (2) whether perceived ad clutter triggers their distrust of the SMIs’ branded content, and (3) whether the attitudinal ambivalence in trust and distrust affect their behavior (i.e., behavioral intention to imitate the SMIs’ product and brand choices) independently as well as interdependently. Except for attractiveness and visual appeal, the online survey consumer data supported the proposed relations strongly, and the results provide meaningful implications for both theory and practice.

Two sides of the same leader: an agent-based model to analyze the effect of ambivalent opinion leaders in social networks

Opinion leaders (OLs) are becoming increasingly relevant on social networking sites as their visibility can help to shape their followers’ attitudes toward a variety of issues. While earlier research provided initial evidence on the effect of OLs using agent-based modeling, it remains unclear how OLs affect their network environment and, therefore, the opinion climate when: (a) they publicly hold ambivalent attitudes, and (b) they not only express support for their own stance but also discredit or ‘debunk’ the opposing side. This paper presents an agent-based model that determines the influence of OLs in social networks in relation to ambivalence and discreditation. The model draws on theoretical foundations of OLs as well as attitudinal ambivalence and was implemented using two network topologies. Results indicate that OLs have significant influence on the opinion climate and that an unequal number of OLs of different opinion camps lead to an imbalance in the opinion climate only in certain situations. Furthermore, OLs can dominate the opinion climate and turn their stance into a majority opinion more effectively when discrediting the opposing side. Ambivalent OLs, on the other hand, can contribute to greater balance in the opinion climate. These findings provide a more nuanced analysis of OLs in social networks by pointing to potential amplifications as well as boundaries of their influence. Implications are discussed with a focus on human and artificial key actors in online networks and their efficacy therein.