Triangulation as splitting in the service of ambivalence

Ambivalence mastery is postulated as a primary dynamic in triangulation, by appealing to splitting and other defense mechanism strategies in synthesizing incompatible affect. The rationale of admissible triangles in balance theory is critically evaluated, and is elaborated in terms of directional vectors and the interpretation of the triangle as a transformed variant of the double bind. Using an illustrative case presentation where an adolescent was instrumental in forming a coalition with his father against an uncle, a theoretical model is developed reconceptualizing various family systems tenets and addressing inconsistencies in hypothesized mechanisms. Ambivalence is analyzed in terms of transference and as a prerequisite of triangulation, the role of the triangulated in relational stability is examined, and the dyad/triad evolution is elaborated. The model is then related to the basic theoretical positions in family systems literature.     

Paradoxical affinities: otherness and ambivalence as creative pathways

Referring to her own background as the child of Jewish refugees forced to leave their countries of origin before the second World War, the author describes how her attitude towards Jung and his ideas has evolved. The role of paradoxical affinities that have affected the author's life and identity as a Jungian analyst are considered, alongside the impact of experiences of otherness whilst supervising and teaching abroad, particularly in Eastern Europe.     

亲子三角关系的性别差异

亲子三角关系指父母发生冲突时,子女主动或被动卷入其中而形成的不平衡的“父亲—子女—母亲”三角关系,通常包括代罪羔羊、亲职化和跨代联盟三大类型,与儿童青少年的内外化行为问题等密切关联。在有关亲子三角关系的发生特点及其影响是否具有性别一致性的问题上,既有研究结论尚存在分歧。这可能与人口学变量的差异和性别角色观念的变迁等因素有关。国内大陆在该领域的研究近乎为零。未来需通过开展本土研究,细化人口学变量和综合运用多种测量方法与指标,采用追踪设计等厘清该问题。     

老年人照料孙子女对农村家庭代际矛盾的影响研究

本研究利用“安徽省老年人生活福利状况”调查数据,建立多水平Tobit模型分析老年人照料孙子女对农村家庭代际矛盾的影响。研究结果发现照料孙子女与高水平代际矛盾相关,且高强度照料的影响更为明显。由于照料角色的性别差异,照料孙子女对老年父亲的代际矛盾有显著影响,而提供低强度照料对老年母亲没有影响。女儿与老年父母的代际矛盾水平低于儿子,且向女儿提供低强度孙子女照料显著降低了老年父亲的代际矛盾。上述结果支持了“角色负担”的理论解释,且性别偏好对家庭代际矛盾有显著影响。     

The moderation of ambivalence on attitude–intention relations as mediated by attitude importance

Attitudinal ambivalence has been found to moderate attitude–intention relations. However, no prior work has investigated the mechanisms by which this moderation effect occurs. The present research attempted to address this issue. Across two studies, there was evidence that an Ambivalence × Attitude interaction was mediated through judgements about attitude importance. Additionally, the present research ruled out the possibility that attitude certainty, a factor that is often found to be positively related to attitude importance, was not responsible for the observed mediating effects of this latter variable. While replicating previous evidence supporting the moderating properties of ambivalence on attitude–intention relations, the current research sheds light on the critical role that attitude importance plays in this relationship. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Service employees give as they get: internal service as a moderator of the service climate-service outcomes link

We lend theoretical insight to the service climate literature by exploring the joint effects of branch service climate and the internal service provided to the branch (the service received from corporate units to support external service delivery) on customer-rated service quality. We hypothesized that service climate is related to service quality most strongly when the internal service quality received is high, providing front-line employees with the capability to deliver what the service climate motivates them to do. We studied 619 employees and 1,973 customers in 36 retail branches of a bank. We aggregated employee perceptions of the internal service quality received from corporate units and the local service climate and external customer perceptions of service quality to the branch level of analysis. Findings were consistent with the hypothesis that high-quality internal service is necessary for branch service climate to yield superior external customer service quality.     

Decomposing the construct of ambivalence over emotional expression in a Chinese cultural context

The present study examined the construct of ambivalence over emotional expression proposed by King and Emmons ( 1990 ) in the Chinese context, and identified a factor structure different from those proposed in previous Western studies. The results of this study provided discriminant validity for this newly extracted two-factor structure of ambivalence, viz., Emotional Rumination and Emotional Suppression. Emotional Rumination was significantly predicted by the personality scales of introversion and inferiority, and the belief dimension of fate control, whereas Emotional Suppression was predicted by the personality scales of diversity, face, and harmony, and the belief dimension of social complexity. The different effects of Emotional Rumination and Emotional Suppression in predicting life satisfaction showed that emotional experience has its own specific characteristics in Chinese culture, and that responding to its emic characteristics will yield a more culturally responsive understanding of emotional experience and expression. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional ambivalence in risk behaviors: the case of occasional excessive use of alcohol

The purpose of this paper is to study the differential and complementary role played by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) variables and by participants' emotions when recalling and describing previous experiences of such risk behavior in the prediction of the intention to repeat a risk behavior in the immediate future. We chose the behavior of occasional excessive drinking, a risk behavior characterized by evoking attitudinal ambivalence and eliciting mixed emotions, joy and sadness. The results show that emotional ambivalence is not equivalent to attitudinal ambivalence (whose indexes include that of the affective component), and that this emotional information is relevant for predicting the intention to repeat the risk behavior in the near future, enhancing the prediction of the TPB model.     

Primal splitting as a basis for emotional and cognitive development in children

This article discusses the importance of good primal splitting as the basis for the child's emotional and cognitive development. A theoretical introduction analyses the possible pathologies of primal splitting, as they were first pointed out by Melanie Klein and then by some post-Kleinian authors, in particular Donald Meltzer. This is followed by some excerpts from the clinical material of the first year of the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a three-year-old child suffering from eating problems. Starting from the child's play activity, the author tries to identify the splitting problems that underlie the child's view of the world, and to address these with him. The article shows how at times it can be useful to speak also to the child's intelligence, combining the usual analytic work (containment of anxiety and analysis of transference) with the analysis of the child's distortions and cognitive misconceptions. The article also suggests that faulty primal splitting tends to be transmitted from one generation to the next.     

The influence of incentive-aroused ambivalence on overjustification effects in attitude change

Rewarding people to advocate a position with which they already agree can undermine their attitudinal positivity. This research tests a novel explanation of this example of the overjustification phenomenon. The hypothesis holds that the provision of an unnecessary incentive gives rise to an ambivalent response: the positive reaction to the reinforcement is accompanied by a sense of uneasiness, or apprehension, regarding the legitimacy of the induced behaviors. Attitude change is expected only in circumstances that confirm the apprehension. Results consistent with this expectation were discovered. In Study 1, respondents asked to play the role of a subject in an overjustification experiment reported greater levels of ambivalence regarding their (role-played) proattitudinal action as a function of payment. Contrary to alternative interpretations of the phenomenon, no incentive-related differences were found in subjects' ratings of the reprehensibility of the requested action, or in their beliefs that future activities of the type requested be undertaken only for payment. In Study 2, subjects paid to read a proattitudinal speech were found subsequently to be less in favor of their original positions only if they also had been given a counterattitudinal communication. The presence or absence of the countercommunication had no influence on the attitudes of unpaid respondents. Subjects for whom the payment was made to appear incidental to the experiment did not demonstrate the usual overjustification effect. These results supported the incentive-aroused ambivalence hypothesis. Psychological mechanisms that might underlie the effect were discussed.