Intolerance Of Ambiguity Research Articles

Folk Theories about Sex and Race Differences

In a study assessing the nature of folk theories about the causes of sex and race differences and correlates of these theories, 464 undergraduates completed questionnaires concerning (a) causes of sex and race differences (e.g., socialization, opportunities, and biological factors), (b) the ease of eliminating differences, (c) perceptions of variability within and between the sexes, (d) intolerance of ambiguity, and (e) values concerning research on sex differences. Folk theories are similar for sex and race: Both social and biological factors are believed to cause differences, but social factors are considered more influential. Folk theories related to how the sexes were perceived. The more biology was believed to cause sex differences, the more the sexes were seen to differ. Folk theories were weakly correlated with intolerance of ambiguity. Students' values indicated that they believe it is important to detect and report sex differences even if errors occur because nonexistent sex differences are falsely reported.

CFS Sociocultural Influences and Trauma:

An integrated model of the assessment and treatment of the CFS population needs to include the sociocultural influences that affect CFS patients as well as their treating clinicians. These sociocultural factors include: (1) the pre-existing cultural climate toward disease, (2) cultural intolerance of ambiguity, (3) cultural intolerance of chronic vs. acute illness, (4) the ongoing psyche-soma duality among health care providers, and (5) initial disease illegitimacy and subsequent enculturation. These specific influences, as well as the patient's medical status, need to be carefully considered in the assessment and treatment of CFS patients and their families. The traumatogenic effects of these sociocultural influences on CFS patients will be discussed and specific treatment strategies will be suggested.

Uncertainties and ambiguities: measuring how medical students cope.

To develop psychometric measures specific to the ambiguities encountered in medicine and determine their value in predicting medical students' attitudes towards patients and their choice of residency, we administered to senior and first-year medical students a 25-item Likert-type questionnaire to assess their intolerance of ambiguity (ITA). Factor analysis yielded two dimensions that were converted to scales: 'Aversion to uncertainties in clinical medicine' (ITA1) and 'Preference for highly structured training environs' (ITA2). First-year students scored higher on ITA1 and lower on ITA2 than seniors. An excessive reliance on high-technology medicine, a negative orientation toward psychological problems, and Machiavellianism predicted ITA1. ITA1 was the best predictor of senior medical students' negative attributional style toward hypochondriac, geriatric and chronic pain patients. The following rank order of seniors' career choice was predicted by ITA1 scores: internal medicine, psychiatry and family medicine (lowest); radiology, surgery and anaesthesiology (highest). And by ITA2 scores: surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and surgical subspecialties (lowest); radiology, psychiatry and anaesthesiology (highest). We concluded that personality traits and role characteristics which predict 'Aversion to uncertainties in clinical medicine' are maladaptive to managing many primary care patients, and this mismatch is reflected in seniors' residency choice.

Doing all they can: physicians who deny medical futility.

Why do some physicians continue to treat patients who are clearly dying or persistently unconscious, while others consider medical intervention to be futile past a certain point? No doubt, medical decisions vary in part because clinical information is often ambiguous in individual cases and because it may support more than one reasonable interpretation of a patient's chances for survival or improvement if a particular treatment is administered. Also, cases vary considerably to the extent that a patient's or a family member's preferences for treatment are communicated, understood, and implemented. But, beyond these contingencies, patients at the end of life may receive more, less, or different treatment because physicians themselves are social actors, individuals who bring to bear on their clinical decisions a variety of personal attitudes, values, concerns, and interests. Legal defensiveness, religious vitalism, authoritarianism, intolerance of ambiguity, and other traits may influence physicians’ behavior, but each may be concealed under the rubric of what is “medically indicated” or “medically appropriate.”

Differences in Managerial Values: A Study of U.S., Hong Kong and PRC Managers

In this study of convergence/divergence of managerial values, four Western-developed measures (Machiavellianism, locus of control, intolerance of ambiguity and dogmatism) and the four dimensions of the Eastern-developed Chinese Value Survey (Confucian dynamism, human-heartedness, integration, and moral discipline) were the measures used. The findings indicate that often times both culture and the business environment interact to create a unique set of managerial values in a country.

The impact of managerial values on decision-making behaviour: A comparison of the United States and Hong Kong

This study addresses cross-national value differences and how values held by managers influence their decision-making behaviour. A two-by-two research design was used to examine values held by practising managers and future business leaders in the United States and Hong Kong. Machiavellianism, locus of control, intolerance of ambiguity, and dogmatism were the measures used to assess these values. Social desirability scores were used as covariants to help control for cultural differences. The findings indicate that differences exist to affect decision-making behaviour. Consequently, managers in both environments must make adaptations to accommodate the values of those involved in transnational businesses.

Mennesket og det ukendte: inertiens psykometri

Hogh-Olesen, H. (1992). Man and the Unknown: The Psychometry of Inertia. Nordisk Psykologi, 45, 1–23. A long series of observations let us know that people vary in the way in which they encounter the new and unknown. People show different tolerance towards novelty, change and ambiguity. They vary as to their personal inertia, and the subject of this study is the personal anchoring and psychometric measurement of these differences. As a possible assessment of inertia, Budner's ‘Intolerance of Ambiguity’ and Mehrabian & Russel's ‘Arousal Seeking Tendency Scale’ are translated and tested on various populations (artists, prison personel, and students of medicine and psychology). Analyses of equivalence, construct validations, and reliability tests are performed. With certain reservations, these scales seem able to form the basis for the development of specific inertia scales.

Looking into the Black Box: Intolerance of Ambiguity and Dynamic-Transactional Processes in the Development of Issue-Related Images

How does media information become a part of our image of the world? How important to the audience are subjective factors on the extent and composition of media-transmitted images? Using a dynamic-transactional model, a number of subjective factors are analysed. This article focuses on the influence of the personality characteristic `ambiguity tolerance'. Taking into account the process character of media effects, we obtained more differentiated results than could be obtained by a simple one-step output analysis. In a two-wave panel, the issue images of the audience were assessed twice with an interval of one week, and then compared to the individually used media information. Employing a LISREL model, the role of `ambiguity tolerance' in individual construction patterns was detected. Recipients willing to accept ambiguities in their information environment were stimulated more strongly. Their reproductions were more closely based on the original media information. In contrast to this, `ambiguity intolerant' people are more likely to add prior knowledge to the media information in their reproductions. This was shown as a medium-term media effect which was transactionally mediated by activation.

Intolerance of Ambiguity and Depression: A Cognitive Vulnerability Factor Linked to Hopelessness

A short-term (10-week) prospective study examined cognitive-vulnerability predictions concerning the onset of depression in a sample of “normal” college students, based on the notion that depression involves hopelessness about the future, i.e., the tendency to regard continued suffering as inevitable or certain. Individuals who are intolerant of ambiguity are hypothesized to be motivated to rapidly resolve uncertainties introduced by rumination about negative life events and yet to find themselves unable to escape the negative implications of this rumination; hence, to attain resolution, they adopt negative expectancies that they hold with certainty, that is, they ultimately come to experience depressive predictive certainty and depression (Andersen & Lyon, 1987; Andersen, 1990). These primary longitudinal hypotheses were supported by the data. That is, the interaction between ambiguity intolerance (at Time 1) and negative life events (occurring between Times 1 and 2) predicted both depressive predictive certainty (at Time 2) and depression over time (at Time 2), even when Time-1 depression was controlled. Moreover, depressive certainty also bore a highly significant relationship to depression when other variables were controlled. Hence, ambiguity intolerance appears to serve as a vulnerability factor both for the certainty of future suffering (hopelessness) and for depression. The findings are discussed in terms of cognitive models of depression.

Reliability of Budner's intolerance of ambiguity scale in medical students.

Intolerance of ambiguity is the perception of ambiguous situations as threatening. It has often been measured using Budner's 1962 intolerance of ambiguity scale in studies of medical students and physicians. To examine the test-retest reliability of the scale among that population, we administered it to all 171 entering medical students at one medical school immediately prior to beginning classes and readministered it to them six to nine weeks later with an 81% follow-up rate. The Pearson correlation between the first and second administrations was .64, showing moderate reliability during this stressful period in medical socialization. The internal reliability of the scale remained constant; the alpha was .64 at the first administration and .63 at follow-up. These data indicate moderate reliability of Budner's intolerance of ambiguity scale when respondents are medical students.

A measure of paradigm beliefs about the social world.

This study examined the reliability and construct validity of, along with age differences in, a measure of paradigm beliefs about the social world, beliefs that have been proposed to develop across the adolescent and adult life span. The scale is a 27-item, forced-choice preference measure of absolute, relativistic, and dialectical paradigm beliefs. In a series of investigations with 445 subjects, ranging in age from 16 to 83 years, it was shown to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and both convergent and discriminant validities. It predicted performance on an in-depth interview about paradigm beliefs and was related to two other measures of paradigm beliefs. It was not related to selected personality variables (i.e., social dogmatism, intolerance of ambiguity and social desirability); nor was it related to a measure of verbal intelligence. The scale also showed predicted developmental trends, supporting its utility for developmental research.

Cognitive Styles: A Factor Analysis of Six Dimensions with Implications for Consolidation

Researchers have repeatedly suggested that several dimensions of cognitive style may be related by a common factor or factors. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationships among six of the more commonly studied and reliably measured dimensions of cognitive style. Those assessed were field independence/field dependence, reflectivity/impulsivity, broad/narrow categorizing, intolerance for ambiguity, cognitive complexity/simplicity, and automatization/restructuring. Seven commonly used measures were administered to 99 youth in Grade 11. Using principal components factor analysis, the six dimensions were reduced to three, accounting for 59.5% of the total variance. These were called deliberation, assimilation, and flexibility. The cognitive style dimensions of reflectivity with field independence loaded together on the factor named deliberation while assimilation included automatization and broad categorizing. Tolerance for ambiguity, field independence, and cognitive complexity comprised the factor named flexibility.

Conservatism and the comprehension of implausible text

AbstractAn experiment on the comprehension of, and memory for, texts of varying degrees of plausibility is reported. Previous studies on conservatives' art preferences (concerning poetry and music) showed that they favoured works of art that were conventional and relatively simple; this was explained in terms of conservatives' generalised intolerance of ambiguity. The present study sought to extend the previous research by examining conservatives'and non‐conservatives' memory of and preferences for texts of varying plausibility. When plausibility is disrupted, texts recount strange, unexpected and ambiguous sequences of actions and events. It was found that conservative subjects' memory for texts of varying plausibility was similar to that of non‐conservatives when overall recall is considered, but there was a greater tendency for conservatives to import inferences (novel propositions which had not been present in the original text) into their recall protocols and to distort their recall (although the latter effect is only marginally significant). They also showed much stronger preferences for plausible over implausible texts compared to non‐conservatives. These results accord well with the previous findings on art preferences, and were explained in terms of the conservatives seeking to avoid or minimise ambiguity.

Investigating whether medical studentsʼ intolerance of ambiguity is associated with their specialty selections

At one medical school in 1982, 175 entering medical students indicated their medical specialty preferences, completed Budner's Intolerance of Ambiguity scale, and supplied demographic information. Most (91%) completed medical school, and their specialty choices at graduation from the National Resident Matching Program were recorded. Initial specialty preference was a poor predictor of later specialty choice (R2 = .11). The students' intolerance of ambiguity was not significantly associated with either their initial medical specialty preferences or their specialty choices at graduations. This finding supports previous studies showing that specialty preferences changed dramatically during medical school, but does not reveal any support for a relationship between students' initial intolerance of ambiguity and their specialty selections.

The spiritual experience index: A measure of spiritual maturity

The Spiritual Experience Index was developed to measure spiritual maturity in persons of diverse religious and spiritual beliefs. The scale was constructed from a developmental rather than a multidimensional conceptualization of faith. Initial findings from a religiously heterogeneous college sample indicated good reliability for the SEI and supported its use as a unidimensional measure. Higher scores on the SEI were significantly related to lower dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity. The SEI was also moderately related to higher religious participation and positively correlated with intrinsicness and quest. However, compared with the intrinsic and quest scales, the SEI emerged as the strongest indicator of adaptive spiritual functioning. Directions for future research are suggested.

The effects of tolerance for ambiguity on feedback‐seeking behaviour

In an article that appeared in this Journal in 1985, Ashford & Cummings found that tolerance for ambiguity (TA) moderated the relationship between feedback‐seeking behaviours (FSB) and ambiguity or uncertainty about one's role or outcome contingencies. The authors concluded that, in uncertain situations, individuals who are low in TA will consider feedback an especially valuable resource, and will engage in higher levels of FSB.The aim of this article is to expand and reinterpret the Ashford & Cummings' (1985) findings by reanalysing their data with two substantive differences. First, while job‐related and problem‐solving TA were proposed as conceptually distinct by Norton (1975), and loaded on separate factors in the factor analysis performed by Ashford & Cummings (1985), they were grouped together in their analysis, thus raising the question of how these two aspects of TA might operate differently with respect to FSB.Second, in investigating the consequences of TA for FSB, Ashford & Cummings used a global measure of FSB which combined feedback specifically sought from boss or co‐workers, and feedback inferred from comparisons with others, social cues and other events. This measure also combined feedback sought for a variety of purposes beyond simply assessing performance. Based on earlier work by Ashford & Cummings (1983), Greller & Herold (1975) and others, it is possible that this global measure of FSB is masking important differences due to either the specific seeking strategy, the reason for seeking or even the source from which feedback is sought.To investigate the above theoretical distinctions between different types of TA and FSB using the Ashford & Cummings' (1985) data, two hypotheses were tested. First, since FSB could be considered an attempt to reduce uncertainty in one's work environment (Ashford, 1986), job‐related TA, which involves an individual's concern about his/her standing at work, should be associated with FSB for determining the adequacy of performance or potential for advancement. Problem‐solving TA, which reflects a general intolerance for ambiguity in any task, should not be associated with FSB about workplace issues, because the sources of the uncertainty which the person low in problem‐solving TA finds aversive are not necessarily at work. Second, when allowing for different types of FSB (monitoring the work environment, solicitations from supervisors and solicitations from co‐workers), low job‐related TA should be associated with greater soliciting behaviours rather than monitoring behaviours because of the less ambiguous nature of the resulting feedback (Ashford & Cummings, 1983). In other words, feedback which an individual gathers through monitoring the environment may itself be more difficult to interpret than solicited feedback, and thus have less value in reducing ambiguity.

Intolerance of ambiguity as a moderator of the occupational role stress—strain relationship: A meta‐analysis

AbstractOccupational role stress has received increased attention in recent years. However, there have been few systematic efforts to review potential moderators of the role stress–strain relationship. The few narrative reviews that do exist conclude that the evidence for individual difference moderators is mixed and inconclusive. The purpose of this review was to utilize meta‐analysis to determine whether intolerance of ambiguity represents a significant vulnerability factor in the role stress–strain relationship. Results indicated that intolerance of ambiguity does moderate the impact of role ambiguity. The implications of this finding for future job stress research and stress management programs are discussed.

PERSONALITY AND SOCIO‐FAMILIAL CORRELATES OF CONSERVATISM IN INDIAN YOUTH

Wilson (1973) proposed a theory that internal and external factors which lead to ‘generalized susceptibility to experiencing threat or anxiety in the face of uncertainty’ are responsible for the growth of conservatism. The present study explored the relationship of some such factors with conservatism in Indian university students (120 males, 72 females) aged 21–25 yrs. It was discovered that conservatism is characterized by low self‐esteem, insecurity, anxiety and intolerance of ambiguity. It is related with lower SES and joint family system but unrelated with family size and birth‐order. Conservatives are more likely to be of the older generation, of the fair sex and to have conservative parents. The findings, on the whole, lend support to Wilson's (1973) theory.

Intolerance of ambiguity in students entering medical school

Intolerance of ambiguity is the perception of ambiguous situations as a threat. Medical students with differing levels of intolerance of ambiguity may select medical specialties based upon the amount of ambiguity existing in the practice of each specialty. A cross-sectional survery at one state university administered Budner's Intolerance of Ambiguity Scale to all entering first-year medical students for four consecutive years ( N = 609) to investigate patterns of intolerance of ambiguity in relationship with demographic variables and initial medical specialty preference. The medical students in this study were more intolerant of ambiguity than those first studied by Budner in 1962. Students entering in 1985 were slightly more intolerant of ambiguity than students in 1988. Students age 23 and older were less intolerant of ambiguity than students 18–22 years old. Men and students with natural/physical science undergraduate majors were more intolerant of ambiguity than their counterparts. However, medical specialty preference was not related to intolerance of ambiguity. Intolerance of ambiguity may be a personality trait or a learned characteristic, and needs further investigation.

あいまいさに対する不寛容，政治的関心，および政治的態度の三者関係について

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between intolerance of ambiguity and political interest and political attitudes, Twenty-four items of a political attitudes scale in a “catchphrase” format, 10 items of a scale measuring intolerance of ambiguity and a 12-item political interest scale were prepared and administered to 292 university students living in Shizuoka, Japan. The main results showed that: (1) greater tolerance of ambiguity was observed in subjects with the most innovative political attitudes as compared to both moderate and conservative subjects; (2) among male subjects, conservatives were more tolerant of ambiguity than moderates, but conservatives were most intolerant of ambiguity across all political-attitude groups in females; and, (3) there was a curvilinear trend between political attitudes and political interest in males while a linear relationship was observed in females. These results showed the importance of sex-related factors when considering the nature of the relationships between personality variables, political interest, and political attitudes.