Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don't: Citizens' Ambivalence About Abortion

Recent research has recognized that many people simultaneously hold positive and negative attitudes about important political issues. This paper reviews the concept of attitudinal ambivalence and introduces a survey measure of ambivalence adapted from the experimental literature. An analysis of two statewide telephone surveys of Florida voters reveals that (1) a number of voters have ambivalent attitudes about abortion rights; (2) the amount of ambivalence varies according to the circumstances (elective versus traumatic) under which an abortion is obtained; (3) ambivalence about elective abortions is essentially unrelated to ambivalence about traumatic abortions; (4) voters who support abortion rights are more ambivalent about elective abortions than about traumatic abortions, whereas the pattern is reversed for abortion rights opponents; and (5) extreme views in support of or opposition to abortion rights can sometimes mitigate the amount of ambivalence felt by voters.     

Beyond attitudinal ambivalence: effects of belief homogeneity on attitude‐intention‐behaviour relations

Attitudinal ambivalence extends the traditional unidimensional conceptualization of attitude by acknowledging that people can simultaneously evaluate attitude objects as positive and negative. The present paper argues that this bidimensional view of attitudes may be extended further to take account of multidimensional influences on attitudes using measures of belief homogeneity. Study 1 (n = 155) showed that attitudes based on homogeneous belief‐sets were significantly more predictive of subsequent behaviour (β = 0.47, p<0.01) than were attitudes based on heterogeneous belief‐sets (β = 0.08, ns). Study 2 (n = 136) manipulated belief homogeneity and found that when beliefs were made heterogeneous, attitudes based on heterogeneous belief‐sets were significantly less predictive of behavioural intentions (β = 0.46, p < 0.01) than attitudes based on homogeneous belief‐sets (β = 0.84, p < 0.01). Implications for research on attitudinal ambivalence and attribute importance are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of attitudinal ambivalence on weight loss decisions: Consequences and mitigating factors

This research takes a new look at individuals' attitudes and intentions towards losing weight. Study 1 examines the relationship among those interested in losing weight and individual self‐evaluative ambivalence on attitude towards trying to achieve a weight loss goal and the intentions to achieve the weight loss goal. For Study 2, a between‐subjects experimental design, where attitudinal ambivalence and prior outcome feedback were manipulated and self‐efficacy was measured, is conducted to examine attitude towards eating healthier and intention to change eating behaviours. Findings across the two studies show that attitudinal ambivalence about the self and the individual's abilities and motivation to change the health behaviour produces a negative relationship between health‐related attitudes and intentions. We provide implications of how self‐efficacy and the provision of outcome feedback can alleviate the negative effect and improve the individuals' intentions to try to achieve a weight loss goal. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudinal ambivalence, rumination, and forgiveness of partner transgressions in marriage

Although positive and negative attitudes toward a transgressor are related to increased and decreased forgiveness, respectively, prior research has failed to investigate forgiveness among those who feel both positively and negatively toward a transgressor. Therefore, the authors examined such ambivalence and its relationship to forgiveness. It was hypothesized that spouses with ambivalent attitudes toward their partner will be less forgiving of a partner transgression because such an event is likely to prime the negative component of their ambivalence. Because ruminating about a transgression also has the potential to prime the negative component of one's ambivalence, an interaction between rumination and ambivalence was predicted. Data from 87 married couples showed that greater attitudinal ambivalence toward the partner was associated with decreased forgiveness only when husbands and wives thought about the transgression frequently; ambivalence was not related to forgiveness in the absence of rumination. The implications of these findings for understanding forgiveness in marriage and for increasing forgiveness among married couples are discussed.     

Moderator effects of attitudinal ambivalence on attitude–behaviour relationships

Attitudinal ambivalence is generally construed as existing when the same attitude object is evaluated simultaneously as both positive and negative. The present research examined the moderating role of attitudinal ambivalence (as assessed by split‐semantic differential measure) on the relationship between bipolar semantic differential measures of attitude and subsequent behaviour using moderated regression analysis. In Study 1, higher levels of attitudinal ambivalence were shown to result in weaker attitude–behaviour relationships for eating a low‐fat diet (N = 140) and eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day (N = 142). Study 2 (N = 361) replicated this effect when also including a measure of past behaviour for eating a low‐fat diet. Implications for understanding the relationship between attitudes and behaviour are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Promiscuous or Confident? Attitudinal Ambivalence Toward Condom Purchase1

This research examined attitudes toward condom purchase. Recent evidence is mixed. While some studies show attitudes have become more positive, other studies suggest that negative attitudes still dominate. Our own research examined the possibility that such attitudes may be ambivalent, meaning that the same individuals may simultaneously hold both positive and negative beliefs about condom purchase. The results confirmed this prediction. Study 1 showed that condom purchase evoked a combination of both negative beliefs about lifestyles and positive beliefs concerning the personal confidence of the consumer. These beliefs had competing effects on more global attitudes toward condom purchase. Specific beliefs about condoms were shown to provide the best indication of. whether participants actually used condoms. Study 2 employed standard measures of attitudinal ambivalence. The results conceptually replicated the finding that ambivalence was greater for those who purchased condoms compared to controls.     

矛盾的消费者是如何解读多元化口碑信息的?

以消费者态度的矛盾性为基础前提, 来探究消费者自身的矛盾态度与外界的多元化口碑信息之间的交互机制。通过两个现场实验发现, 消费者态度的矛盾性程度稳健地调节着消费者对外界信息的选择和处理。具体而言, 高矛盾性的消费者由于具有显著的减少矛盾的动机, 会选择性注意外界的正面信息和态度, 而低矛盾性的消费者减少矛盾的动机并不显著, 更倾向于选择性注意外界的负面信息和态度; 另一方面, 矛盾消费者的选择性注意效应受从众压力和群体共识的影响很小, 也即那些不处于消费者选择性关注范围内的信息和态度, 即使是多数人形成的共识, 对消费者仍然不会有显著影响。     

Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: Job Ambivalence as a Moderator

Based on research regarding the role of attitudinal ambivalence in the validity of attitudes in predicting behavior, we propose job ambivalence as a promising concept for job satisfaction research. In particular, we argue that job ambivalence (i.e., coexistence of positive and negative evaluations of one's job) may moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. Results of a study conducted with managers of an IT company show, as predicted, that job satisfaction is a better predictor of job performance (i.e., higher satisfaction related to higher performance) when individuals experience low job ambivalence, as compared to when individuals experience high job ambivalence. Implications for future research are discussed.     

对乙肝患者群体认知的矛盾态度:行为与ERP证据

采用GNAT范式并结合事件相关电位（ERP）,考查不同矛盾状态（高矛盾VS低矛盾）被试对特殊群体的态度及其在行为、脑加工机制上的差异。结果表明：（1）个体对于乙肝患者存在矛盾态度;（2）高、低矛盾被试对乙肝患者的态度差异,主要表现在积极维度而非消极维度上。（3）N270的出现及LPC的差异表明,矛盾态度的加工是个体根据背景对预存性评价予以修正的过程。     

The Impact of the Antitobacco Norm on the Selected Mode of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that when behavior violates an antismoking injunctive norm, dissonance is aroused, but the injunctive norm constrains how people reduce their discomfort. In Experiment 1, participants with positive or negative attitudes toward public smoking wrote an essay for or against a ban on public smoking. Whereas attitude change occurred for those whose counter‐attitudinal essay supported the antismoking norm, those whose counter‐attitudinal essay violated the antismoking norm did not change their attitudes to reduce dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants who wrote against the ban on public smoking eschewed attitude change in favor of reducing dissonance through trivialization and act rationalization. The discussion focuses on how maintaining social connections makes cognitions resistant to change when dissonance is aroused.     

Extending the bases of subjective attitudinal ambivalence: interpersonal and intrapersonal antecedents of evaluative tension

Researchers have conceptualized ambivalence as resulting from the conflicting positive and negative thoughts and feelings that a person holds toward an attitude object (intrapersonal discrepancy). The authors investigated the hypothesis that perceived interpersonal attitudinal discrepancies can also contribute to feelings of subjective ambivalence beyond that determined by intrapersonal discrepancy. Study 1 revealed that the perception of attitudinal discrepancy with one's parents was associated with greater feelings of ambivalence. Studies 2 and 3 found increased ambivalence as a function of manipulated interpersonal discrepancies. Study 4 replicated and reversed the effect, revealing that interpersonal attitudinal discrepancy with a disliked other was associated with less ambivalence. Together, these studies provide support for the proposition that, because of balance processes, interpersonal relationships influence feelings of subjective ambivalence.     

Minority influence: the role of ambivalence toward the source

According 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.     

Attitudinal Balance and Cause‐Related Marketing: An Empirical Application of Balance Theory

We examine the effects of pre‐existing organizational attitudes on consumer response to cause‐related marketing (CRM) alliances, using a Balance Theory framework. Two experiments demonstrate that balanced attitudes (either both positive or both negative) resulted in perceptions of appropriateness, but did not necessarily lead to positive affect. The positive balance scenario led to a synergistic attitudinal boost when both pre‐existing attitudes were positive. Attitudinal contamination was evident when either pre‐existing attitude was negative. Fit operated within the balance scenario to enhance perceptions of the strength of the CRM alliance, leading to more positive responses.     

Bending without breaking: examining the role of attitudinal ambivalence in resisting persuasive communication

The present research aims at showing that ambivalence may serve an adaptive function: to preserve attitudes and to resist persuasion. In two experiments, participants were exposed to a counter‐attitudinal message attributed to an ingroup majority. Results of both experiments showed that individuals high in ambivalence changed toward the source more than individuals low in ambivalence at the direct level, while at the indirect level––where the link between attitudes and the source's message is less apparent––individuals low in ambivalence changed toward the source more than individuals high in ambivalence. Experiment 2 also showed that this effect is particularly true for high self‐monitoring participants, thereby supporting a motivational interpretation of the effect. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Youth Responses to Anti‐Smoking Advertisements From Tobacco‐Control Agencies,Tobacco Companies,and Pharmaceutical Companies1

Emotional reactions to anti‐smoking advertising (e.g., fear, sadness, anger) may play an important role in promoting smoking‐related attitudinal and behavioral change. Overall, 278 youth completed response ratings of 16 different elements of 50 anti‐smoking ads made by tobacco‐control agencies, tobacco companies, and pharmaceutical companies. Compared with tobacco‐control ads, tobacco‐company ads were more likely to elicit positive emotions and less likely to elicit negative emotions and to be of interest to youth. Compared with tobacco‐control ads, pharmaceutical company ads were less likely to elicit negative emotional responses or cognitively engage youth and more likely to elicit positive emotions. These findings suggest that youth may be unlikely to respond to tobacco‐company advertising in ways that may lead to a lower likelihood of smoking.     

矛盾态度的成因与应对

矛盾态度是指个体或群体对某一态度客体同时存在的积极与消极的认知评价和情绪体验。近年来, 学者们从认知、社会、个体差异等角度探讨了矛盾态度的成因, 并指出个体主要使用情绪中心策略、信息加工策略和补偿性策略以应对矛盾态度带来的不适。未来研究需要继续整合矛盾态度的测量方式, 考察矛盾态度在不同文化和不同个体发展阶段的差异, 并进一步深入探索影响矛盾态度与个体行为后果的变量。     

Covered in stigma? The impact of differing levels of Islamic head‐covering on explicit and implicit biases toward Muslim women

Given the prominence of Muslim veils—in particular the hijab and full‐face veil—in public discourse concerning the place of Muslims in Western society, we examined their impact on non‐Muslims’ responses at both explicit and implicit levels. Results revealed that responses were more negative toward any veil compared with no veil, and more negative toward the full‐face veil relative to the hijab: for emotions felt toward veiled women (Study 1), for non‐affective attitudinal responses (Study 2), and for implicit negative attitudes revealed through response latency measures (Studies 3a and 3b). Finally, we manipulated the perceived reasons for wearing a veil, finding that exposure to positive reasons for wearing a veil led to better predicted and imagined contact (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Is subjective ambivalence toward gays a modern form of bias?

Theoretically, modern racism and sexism are characterized by ambivalence. We directly examined the consequence of being higher in subjective ambivalence toward gays (i.e. attitudes that feel “torn”) with regard to gay rights support. In Study 1, greater subjective ambivalence was associated with more negative attitudes (and not more positive attitudes), more ideological opposition to gays, more negative intergroup emotions, and less gay rights support. In Study 2, less opposition to gay bullying was predicted by: (a) greater subjective ambivalence (through lower intergroup empathy); and (b) experimentally-salient bullying justification norms (through lower collective guilt). These effects held controlling for Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men (i.e., traditional negative attitudes). Although not overtly negative, individual differences in subjective ambivalence tap a unique, subtle, and less objectionable form of bias, consistent with aversive racism and justification–suppression frameworks of explaining modern biases.     

Ingroup ambivalence and experienced affect: the moderating role of social identification

No previous work in the field of group‐related attitudes and emotions has investigated the possible affective consequences of ingroup ambivalence—that is, the consequences of having attitudes towards an ingroup that are simultaneously both positive and negative. The current study was designed to explore this issue. Ambivalent attitudes have been argued to be more psychologically salient to the individual than univalent ones. A linear increase in participants' experienced affect was therefore predicted as a function of their ambivalence toward the ingroup. However, consistent with the predictions of social identity theory, previous findings have shown that higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to be involved with the ingroup than lower identifiers. Accordingly, we predicted and found effects of ingroup ambivalence on affect for high but not low ingroup identifiers. Combining the findings of two distinct literatures, the initial evidence provided by this study exploratively traces the sources of the affective processes that are set in motion by the evaluation of one's own group in an intergroup context. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural Differences in Attitudes Toward Smoking: Developing Messages Using the Theory of Reasoned Action1

The theory of reasoned action was used to identify the culturally appropriate beliefs of Hispanic smokers that might be targeted in an anti-smoking campaign. In-depth interviews were conducted with 263 Hispanics and 150 non-Hispanic whites. Intentions to quit smoking were predicted most strongly by the attitudinal rather than the normative component of the model. A pattern of cultural differences between the two ethnic groups was identified. Family-related consequences and concerns about bad smell contributed more to Hispanic attitudes toward quitting than to those of non-Hispanic whites, while the effects of withdrawal from cigarettes contributed more to non-Hispanic whites'attitudes than to Hispanics'. The bad smell of cigarettes, improving relationships with the family, weight gain, breathing more easily, and having a better taste in the mouth were the consequences of smoking and quitting that most strongly discriminated between those Hispanics intending and not intending to quit. These results should be used in the creation of culturally appropriate anti-smoking messages for this group.