Emotional Ambivalence in Risk Behaviors: The Case of Occasional Excessive Use of Alcohol

Abstract

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. Keywords: attitudinal ambivalence, emotional ambivalence, mixed emotions, risk behaviorEn este trabajo estudiamos el papel diferencial y complementario que juegan las emociones sentidas cuando se recuerda y describe una experiencia personal pasada en la conducta de riesgo junto con las variables clásicas de la teoría de la conducta planificada en la predicción de la intención de repetir dicha conducta de riesgo en un futuro cercano. Hemos elegido la conducta de beber puntualmente alcohol en exceso, una conducta caracterizada por evocar actitudes ambivalentes y emociones mixtas (alegría y tristeza). Los resultados muestran que la ambivalencia emocional no es equivalente a la ambivalencia actitudinal (cuyos índices incluyen la ambivalencia del componente afectivo de las actitudes), y que esta información emocional es un factor relevante para predecir mejor la intención de repetir la conducta de riesgo en el futuro cercano. Palabras clave: ambivalencia actitudinal, ambivalencia emocional, emociones mixtas, conducta de riesgo

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