Ambivalent Condition Research Articles

The complementary role of affect-based and cognitive heuristics to make decisions under conditions of ambivalence and complexity.

Little is known about the interplay between affective and cognitive processes of decision making within the bounded rationality perspective, in particular for the debate on adaptive decision making and strategy selection. This gap in the knowledge is particularly important as affect and deliberation may direct preferences in opposite directions. How do decision makers solve such dissonance? In this paper, we address this question by exploring the use of integral affect as a choice heuristic in comparison with and in conjunction to “take the best,” and weighted addition of attributes (WADD). We operationalize theories of reliance on affect in choice through a "Take the emotionally best" algorithm. Its predictive power is experimentally tested against other models, including mixed-sequential cognitive/affective procedures. We find that individual decisions are better predicted by a sequential combination of "Take the emotionally best" and "Take the best" with a slight dominance of the former. Conditions of cognitive/affective ambivalence, low discrimination ability and high complexity provide the cognitive architecture where such blended choice strategies predict decisions more precisely. This implies that reliance on integral affect may precede the use of cognitive cues following an ecological rationality perspective rather than supporting a kind of competition between affect and cognition as implied in current literature.

Del tiempo de la imagen del mundo a la época de la transparencia: una reflexión sobre la experiencia del tiempo en la filosofía contemporánea

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo dar cuenta del carácter ambivalente de los conceptos de transparencia y aceleración como claves de comprensión de las transformaciones de las concepciones del tiempo de la modernidad a la postmodernidad. Para arrojar luz sobre esta doble valencia se apelará a la diferencia entre una aceleración centrífuga propia de la modernidad, cuya estructura temporal se articula como aproximación asintótica al foco de luz que la orienta, frente a una aceleración centrípeta donde la transparencia es tan perfecta que, sin fondos opacos de retracción, ni centro de gravedad que ordene el decurso temporal, entrega todo a la visibilidad quedando el concepto de libertad fatalmente identificado con la autocoacción.

Partisan Strength and Social Media Use Among Voters During the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election: Examining the Roles of Ambivalence and Disagreement

High identifiers to political parties are typically the most cognitively and behaviorally engaged during elections. Using a national postelection survey of voters ( N = 924) in the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election, the present study examined the relationship between partisan strength and a variety of social media behaviors. Findings showed that partisan strength was positively associated with social media use during the campaign. However, the relationships were generally only significant under conditions of lower ambivalence toward political parties and less disagreement among one’s friendship networks. Implications for the findings are discussed.

The Effect of Ambivalence on On-Leash Dog Walking Compliance Behavior in Parks and Protected Areas

This study employed the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine how ambivalence affects compliance of visitors to regulation concerning on-leash dog requirement in a national park setting. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in British Columbia, Canada, has a substantial challenge with off-leash dogs, which interfere with shorebirds and contribute to habituation of wolves that come to view dogs as prey. Historically, the park has favored indirect visitor education strategies over direct enforcement. These visitor education strategies rely upon frequency and intensity of information, conservation appeal for keeping wolves unhabituated and “wild,” respecting sensitive shorebird habitat, and fear, by presenting dogs as prey. However, the ineffectiveness of current strategies and ongoing visitor noncompliance with dog-leashing regulations has presented a significant challenge, highlighting the importance of theory in developing effective strategies to influence visitor behavior. Following TPB methodology, interviews were conducted with compliers (dogs on-leash) and noncompliers (dogs off-leash) from which a survey was developed. Results found a strong relationship between behavior, intentions, and the three factors that influence intentions: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. However, relations were weaker between each of these factors and the relevant beliefs thought to be influencing each factor. The next phase of analysis examined ambivalence, which occurs when visitors hold conflicting attitudinal beliefs about a desired behavior. In this ambivalence situation, park visitors may choose not to reflect on beliefs when forming their attitudes about complying with on-leash regulations. Park regulations and communications usually target attitudinal beliefs in order to influence visitor behavior, but under conditions of ambivalence, this kind of strategy may not be effective. In an ambivalence situation, messages to achieve compliance should be directed at influencing norms and perceived control, rather than just attempting to influence attitudes.In addition to messaging, alternative strategies to influence visitor behavior may be warranted that emphasize community level outreach initiatives focused on personal contact. Patrolling and on-leash enforcement in combination with outreach may be more effective. Seasonal closures to sensitive areas during peak migration may also make enforcement a less daunting task of managing visitors in such a large area. Providing an alternative beach area or other location where dogs can run free may also make it easier for park visitors with dogs to engage in compliance behavior. Media, social media, “prompts” that remind people to “leash up,” and messages delivered by a credible source also have the potential to influence on-leash behavior. Subscribe to JPRA

Co-Creative Urbanism The production of plural evolutionary spatialities through conflicts and complicities between public and private in the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

Under the impact of economic globalization, today cities put a high priority to improve their attractiveness and become ideal destinations for global capital and elites (William S.W. Lim, 2014). Results of these “improvements” are often severe gentrification and spectacularisation processes that compromise resilience of local communities. These have an important impact on the materiality of tradition that constitutes complex of historical, social and cultural linkages is being gradually decontextualized and commodified, severely damaging local identity, community and knowledge (William S. W. Lim, 2013). Epitomes of these disruptions of complex rooted linkages are the “creative,” post-consumerist landscapes of consumption, ubiquitously emerging in public spaces of ancient central city streets.Contrasting such tendency of producing deterritorialised places of consumption, trapping people for hours at a time in hyper-real spaces, relevant socio-spatial instances of resistance are found. This paper explores the complex spatialities of conceptions, everyday practices and actions of one of these places that preserves genuine rhythms of daily lives. The historical central district of Hanoi is chosen as case study, where local inhabitants develop idiosyncratic tactics to engage with public space, encroaching sidewalks with complex set of practices. These are places where local inhabitants everyday actualise complex sets of conceptions, practices and actions that notably exemplifies those that produce differential spaces - using the notion proposed by Henri Lefebvre. Disassociating from regulated, limited, planned and homogenized environments as occurring in present shopping malls and theme parks, the central district of Hanoi sidewalks offer chances for accidental encounters, unexpected events and support a very diverse range of local inhabitants in an extremely active and dynamic play. The sidewalks appear as a loosen space (Franck & Stevens, 2007), where unpredictable uses, intermingled spatial interconnections and complex social interrelations generate.This paper discusses the findings of a research aimed to explore (how – what – why) the interaction between the multifarious spatial activities of residents and transients, and describe the patterns of such inclusionary relations. Particularly, the study intends to demonstrate how there is a (ambivalent condition in witch) complex networks of social activities produce and are produced by a distinct set of spatialities that involve inclusive networks of local agencies. So as to achieve the target, the theoretical lenses of Lefebvre’s spatialities and Kim’s spatial ethnography are useful, on the one hand to comprehensively decode and interpret “social space” and on the other hand to clearly describe such space.

Ambiwalencja jako kategoria (dez)integracji pracy nauczyciela-terapeuty w Warsztacie Terapii Zajęciowej

The following considerations, the difficulty and the ambivalence of the roles undertaken teachertherapist in institutions which are Occupational Therapy Workshops are the result of their own empirical investigations related to the categories of special education and meanings broadcast specific aspects of this experience. In the article quoted statements are from interviews narrative with employees (teachers and therapists), Occupational Therapy Workshops. Ambivalent conditions of work of the teacher-therapist is an issue taken up in this article. The teacher here is involved in a number of educational and therapeutic processes and bureaucratic administration, which constitute the issue of accountability of work he does.

Homophobia, transphobia, young people and the question of responsibility

ABSTRACTYoung people may face conflicting and confusing messages about what it means to respond well in relation to homophobia and transphobia. Consequently, we ask – What might it mean to respond well to homophobia and transphobia? This strategy, inspired by Anika Thiem and Judith Butler, is recognition of the ambivalent conditions which structure attempts to respond well to bullying related to gender and sexuality. Such an approach is counter to educational responses that suggest a remedy in advance of the enactment of perceived bullying. Our paper draws on research conducted by the authors in four such schools, two in Australia and two in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is a deliberate turn away from focusing on who should be held to account for homophobia and transphobia.

Embroidered Feminist Rhetoric in Andrea Dezső’s Lessons from My Mother

Artist Andrea Desző’s embroideries, inspired by the Romanian traditional sampler, belong to the material turn in cultural and feminist studies. Based on a comparison with first-wave feminist ideas in Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s Women and Economics, this analysis interrogates what embroidery—as a form of discourse—tells about the little-known Eastern-European woman’s condition. In the region significantly different from Western Europe in both postcolonialist and post-Marxist analyses, these artifacts reveal the ambivalent condition of women situated at the intersection of tradition, feminist thought, and Marxist practice, after Marxist-led governments had provided women with a workplace and equality, at least in theory.

OAB symptoms: assessment and discriminator for etiopathology.

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a highly common condition defined by characteristic symptoms and absence of obvious diseases. OAB symptoms are reviewed with special relevance to its etiopathlogy. Numerous validated assessment tools are available for OAB symptoms. They are variable in question items and response scale, but most of them are highly responsive to quality of life impairment and treatment outcomes. It should be kept in mind whether the tool addresses symptoms including OAB symptoms, OAB symptoms alone, or symptom bother. The cardinal symptom of OAB is urgency, a strong desire to void of sudden onset. Suddenness of urgency is associated with symptom severity and its all-or-none nature is indicative of a disorder in bladder afferent signal processing. Etiopathology of OAB or urgency is highly heterogeneous and may be found in detrusor muscle, bladder nervous system, and the brain. OAB is reflective of a condition of sensory dysfunction of the bladder, wherein the patients feel a strong desire to void at a smaller bladder volume (sensory hyperactivity) and notice desire to void too late (impaired perception). This ambivalent condition could be named as 'sensory hyperactivity with impaired perception'.

Abnormal neural processing during emotional salience attribution of affective asymmetry in patients with schizophrenia.

Aberrant emotional salience attribution has been reported to be an important clinical feature in patients with schizophrenia. Real life stimuli that incorporate both positive and negative emotional traits lead to affective asymmetry such as negativity bias and positivity offset. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of emotional salience attribution in patients with schizophrenia when affective asymmetry was processed. Fifteen patients with schizophrenia and 14 healthy controls were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing an emotion judgment task in which two pictures were juxtaposed. The task consisted of responding to affective asymmetry condition (ambivalent and neutral) and affective symmetry conditions (positive and negative), and group comparisons were performed for each condition. Significantly higher activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus was observed for the ambivalent condition than for the other conditions in controls, but not in patients. Compared with controls, patients showed decreased activities in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and putamen for the ambivalent condition, but no changes were observed for the neutral condition. Multiple prefrontal hypoactivities during salience attribution of negativity bias in schizophrenia may underlie deficits in the integrative processing of emotional information. Regional abnormalities in the salience network may be the basis of defective emotional salience attribution in schizophrenia, which is likely involved in symptom formation and social dysfunction.

Surprise, memory, and retrospective judgment making: Testing cognitive reconstruction theories of the hindsight bias effect.

Hindsight bias has been shown to be a pervasive and potentially harmful decision-making bias. A review of 4 competing cognitive reconstruction theories of hindsight bias revealed conflicting predictions about the role and effect of expectation or surprise in retrospective judgment formation. Two experiments tested these predictions examining the effects of manipulating the information presented in a text-based scenario and its congruency with the given outcome on surprise, hindsight bias, and recall. The results of Experiment 1 revealed evidence of hindsight bias after exposure to incongruent and ambivalent outcomes but not after exposure to congruent outcomes. Experiment 2 replicated the hindsight bias results and found that the ratio of outcome consistent information recalled was higher than expected in the incongruent and ambivalent conditions but equaled the ratio presented to participants in the congruent condition. The results were interpreted as supporting the general predictions of sense-making models of the hindsight bias. A refined version of this model is discussed.

The Subversion of Plato's Quasi-Phenomenology and Mytho-Poetics in the Symposium

Is there a significant difference between Plato's texts and what is known as 'Platonism', that is, the philosophical tradition that claims Plato as its progenitor? Focusing on the Symposium, an attempt is made here to show that, far from merely fitting neatly into the categories of Platonism—with its neat distinction between the super-sensible and the sensible—Plato's own text is a complex, tension-filled terrain of countervailing forces. In the Symposium this tension obtains between the perceptive insights, on the one hand, into the nature of love and beauty, as well as the bond between them, and the metaphysical leap, on the other hand, from the experiential world to a supposedly accessible, but by definition super-sensible, experience-transcending realm. It is argued that, instead of being content with the philosophical illumination of the ambivalent human condition—something consummately achieved by mytho-poetic and quasi-phenomenohgical means—Plato turns to a putatively attainable, transcendent source of metaphysical reassurance which, moreover, displays all the trappings of an ideological construct. This is demonstrated by mapping Plato's lover's vision of 'absolute beauty' on to what Jacques Lacan has characterized as the unconscious structural quasi-condition of all religious and ideological illusion.

Reciprocal activation of the orbitofrontal cortex and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in processing ambivalent stimuli

The neural basis of ambivalence has not yet been identified. We investigated the prefrontal cortical activations implicated in evaluative processing of ambivalent stimuli under the forced and non-forced response conditions. Cerebral blood flow was measured using H 2 15O positron emission tomography in twelve normal volunteers during a modified word-stem completion task that was designed to evoke different conditions of ambivalence. The prefrontal cortical activations were restricted to the orbitofrontal cortex during the non-forced ambivalent condition, whereas the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the frontopolar cortex were activated in addition to the orbitofrontal cortex during the forced ambivalent condition. It is remarkable that the orbitofrontal cortex and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex demonstrated a reciprocal activation pattern, which might be linked to the evaluative attitude toward the ambivalent stimuli.

No Woman’s Land: Marriage in the Fiction of Buchi Emecheta

As one of the major ways by which interaction between men and women is regulated in society, marriage has offered a useful yardstick for the assessment of gender relations in many works of African fiction authored by women. The paper examines the way in which the prominent female Nigerian novelist Buchi Emecheta portrays marriage in several novels, including Second-Class Citizen, The Bride Price, The Joys of Motherhood and Double Yoke. Emecheta believes that many of the cultural assumptions which inform marriage gloss over the inherent contradictions that are inherent in its duality as institution and relationship. As institution, marriage ostensibly provides women with the best context within which to fully realise themselves as women; as relationship, the promise of such self-fulfilment is exposed as arbitrary and hypocritical, Many of Emecheta’s principal female characters become aware of this disjunction, and it crystallizes the challenges confronting them as women in a patriarchal society. In this way, she shows how marriage, far from achieving its professed role of affirming the stability of culturally-sanctioned gender relations, actually disrupts them. This paper begins by examining the biological and social drives that underpin marriage, and the way in which they combine to make it an ambivalent condition for women, ostensibly celebrating their femaleness while entrenching their subordination to men. It then focuses on the concept, objectives and process of marriage as these are dramatised by characters and situations in Emecheta’s novels. The paper concludes that Emecheta characterises marriage as essentially indefinable, with unfocused aims and conflicting processes.

Minority influence: the role of ambivalence toward the source

AbstractAccording to literature on social influence, a minority source may indirectly influence group members by fostering ambivalent reactions. Two studies were carried out in order to provide empirical support for this theoretical assumption. In Study 1 participants (n = 133), were exposed to a counter‐attitudinal minority message and ambivalence was manipulated by facilitating the accessibility of either ambivalent (positive and negative) or univalent (positive or negative) thoughts toward the source. We predicted and found more indirect influence in ambivalent condition than in univalent conditions. No effect of ambivalence on direct influence was found. In Study 2 (n = 127), ambivalence was measured and two possible antecedents of ambivalence, consistency of the minority and personal relevance of the topic for participants, were taken into account. Findings suggest that ambivalence mediates the effects of the two factors on indirect influence. In sum, these studies provide evidence of the importance of ambivalence in minority influence context, an early assumption that was still lacking in strong empirical support. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Wise Ignorance and Socratic Interiority: Recovering a Dialogic Rhetoric

This article argues for the recovery of an interior ignorance from Socrates's life of philosophy as a contribution to recent constructions of dialogic rhetoric. Synthesizing Bakhtin's reading of Socratic contestation with his concept of microdialogue, a view of dialogic rhetoric emerges that combines the testing of ideas and persons with interior conditions of doubt, anxiety, and ambivalence. A reading of Socrates's enactment of an interior/exterior piety in the Apology of Socrates is offered to demonstrate how interior ignorance uncovers the double-voicedness of rhetorical texts. The article counterposes this fuller interior/exterior view of ignorance against exteriorized suspicions directed at the character of Socrates, and the idea of ignorance, in rhetorical and cultural criticism.

Ethical Considerations of the Human–Animal-Relationship Under Conditions of Asymmetry and Ambivalence

Ethical reflection deals not only with the moral standing and handling of animals, it should also include a critical analysis of the underlying relationship. Anthropological, psychological, and sociological aspects of the human–animal-relationship should be taken into account. Two conditions, asymmetry and ambivalence, are taken as the historical and empirical basis for reflections on the human–animal-relationship in late modern societies. These conditions explain the variety of moral practice, apart from paradoxes, and provide a framework to systematize animal ethical problems in a broader field. This allows the development of ideal relationships as moral orientation across anthropocentric or sentientistic ethical theories. These ideal relationships are called the patronage-model, the friendship-model and the partnership-model. The ethical problem of creating transgenic animals is discussed in the light of these ideal relationships.

Intergenerational Ambivalence: Further Steps in Theory and Research

Key Words: ambivalence, family therapy, gender, intergenerational relations, postmodernism. The article by Ingrid Connidis and Julie McMullin and initiative of Journal of Marriage and Family's editor provide an excellent opportunity to continue discussion on relevance of concept of ambivalence for study of intergenerational relations. Nearly 4 years have passed since Karl Pillemer and I (Luscher & Pillemer, 1998) published our ideas on topic in this journal. Connidis and McMullin take this article as their starting point and refer to it both approvingly and critically. I cannot always follow their critique, as I will show at appropriate points below. What counts most, however (and this is greatly to be applauded) is that all of us are interested in further development of approach. Interestingly, insights into ambivalence between parents and adult children can be traced back to beginnings of human society, although term itself was apparently first created only in 1910. In Greek mythology, some of greatest sagas depict what we now refer to as ambivalence. The best known of these is drama of fateful relationship between Oedipus and his father. This theme is also found in modern literature. Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis or, more recently, Philip Roth's novel American Pastoral, are only two of many examples. Today, term ambivalence is widely used. For example, we may hear adult children saying that they feel ambivalent about placing their elderly father or mother in a nursing home. The central question, then, is to determine what can be gained by using concept in family research. I agree with Connidis and McMullin that concept of ambivalence enables us to study intergenerational relationships with greater openness and it can help to accentuate sociological perspective. To this end, structural conditions of ambivalence should be given adequate attention. The authors mention gender inequality as a particular example, thereby providing a bridge to gender studies. Taking this a step further, I see concept of ambivalence as well-suited to linking various disciplines that work on problem of generations (Mannheim, 1928). Ambivalence can be comprehended as a concept, as defined by Blumer (1969), giving the user a general sense of reference and guidance in approaching empirical instances. Whereas definitive concepts provide prescriptions of what to see, sensitizing concepts merely suggest directions along which to look. (p. 148). I would even maintain that challenge of ambivalence lies in its ambiguities. I say this drawing on Levine's stimulating book, The Flight from Ambiguity (1986). The author provides a wellgrounded argument that insight into ambiguity of a concept is a motor for development of new ideas. But in order for this motor to really function and propel us forward, conceptual determinations are indispensable. They are also foundation for formulation of specific hypotheses and for development of research instruments. In this regard, few concrete suggestions can be found in article by Connidis and McMullin. Of course they offer numerous examples but for research, systematic conceptual work is indispensable. This is where scientific approach to intergenerational ambivalence differs from that found in literary works and everyday common sense. STEPS TOWARD DEFINING AMBIVALENCE In order to avoid a potential misunderstanding, I would like to make it clear that I do not intend to present an all-purpose or ultimate definition of ambivalence. That would be dogmatic. Because ambivalence is a concept that is discussed in many different contexts-from ordinary language to psychological and sociological research-we must attempt to isolate its major ideas and dimensions. For this purpose, it is most useful to turn to brief yet many faceted history of concept's scientific use. …

The role of social science in environmental policy making: experiences and outlook

The effectiveness of scientific advisory committees depends on three factors: their ability to achieve a consensus about the conflicting cognitive claims; their ability to formulate the results such that they are compatible with the expectations and structural requirements of the relevant political body; and whether their decisions have a good chance of legitimising political decisions in society. The currently dominant model of neo-corporatist scientific political counselling in Germany and many other European countries, either in theory or in practice, does not provide a suitable consultation under the conditions of value pluralism, ambivalence and uncertainty. The shortcomings of inadequate effectiveness and practicability of scientific political counselling can at least partly be overcome only when scientific counselling in politics is seen as a constituent element of a comprehensive discursive approach. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Mixed emotions: teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with students

This paper describes the conceptual framework, methodology, and some results from a project on the Emotions of Teaching and Educational Change. It introduces the concepts of emotional intelligence, emotional labor, emotional understanding and emotional geographies. Drawing on interviews with 53 teachers in 15 schools, the paper then describes key differences in the emotional geographies of elementary and secondary teaching. Elementary teaching is characterized by physical and professional closeness which creates greater emotional intensity; but in ambivalent conditions of classroom power, where intensity is sometimes negative. Secondary teaching is characterized by greater professional and physical distance leading teachers to treat emotions as intrusions in the classroom. This distance, the paper argues, threatens the basic forms of emotional understanding on which high-quality teaching and learning depend.