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Predictors and predictive effects of ambivalence
Author(s) -
Sparks Paul,
Harris Peter R.,
Lockwood Nina
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/0144666042037980
Subject(s) - ambivalence , psychology , social psychology , predictive validity , developmental psychology
Recent interest in people's ambivalence about social behaviours and social categories has provoked a number of challenges for the ways in which attitudes are conceptualized. Research into the implications of ambivalence for attitude‐behaviour relationships and for information processing has developed alongside a concern with how best to measure ambivalence and with its implications for the application of social psychological theory. In a study (N = 197) of attendance at a local health club, two novel issues were addressed: firstly, an assessment of the effect of ambivalence on intention‐behaviour relationships (using an objective behaviour measure) revealed the hypothesized moderation effect; secondly, in a move towards identifying some of the factors that may lead to ambivalence, an assessment of potential motivational conflicts based on a consideration of behavioural beliefs and outcome evaluations was introduced. We suggest that this method of assessing ambivalence represents a useful framework on which to build a fuller understanding of the relationship between people's attitudes and the variety of motives that may influence their social behaviour. Pointers for future research are outlined.