The Social Value of Being Ambivalent

Pillaud, Vincent; Cavazza, Nicoletta; Butera, Fabrizio

doi:10.1177/0146167213490806

Cited by 40 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Studies using these paradigms have demonstrated the positive social value of internality (Dubois, 2008), individualism (Dubois & Beauvois, 2005), belief in a just world (Alves & Correia, 2008, and ambivalence (Pillaud, Cavazza, & Butera, 2013). What these norms have in common is the fact that they contain ideas that are fundamental for the structures of our modern occidental societies (Beauvois, 2003).…”

Section: The Sociocognitive Approach To Social Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors: two levels of response to environmental social norms

Bertoldo¹,

Castro²,

Bousfield³

2014

RLP

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Section: The Sociocognitive Approach To Social Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors: two levels of response to environmental social norms

Bertoldo¹,

Castro²,

Bousfield³

2014

RLP

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“…In the case of ambivalence, previous work shows that people regulate the expression of ambivalent attitudes based on the impression they aim to create on others. Specifically, people reported more ambivalence when they aimed to generate a positive impression, which they seemed to do by default in a baseline condition, in comparison with when they intended to generate a negative impression ( Pillaud et al, 2013 ). The authors argue that the expression of ambivalence can function as a cue of social competence when discussing controversial topics, i.e., when others may appreciate pondered and balanced information about both sides of a controversy ( Pillaud et al, 2013 , 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambivalence and Interpersonal Liking: The Expression of Ambivalence as Social Validation of Attitudinal Conflict

2020

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Literature on attitude similarity suggests that sharing similar attitudes enhances interpersonal liking, but it remains unanswered whether this effect also holds for ambivalent attitudes. In the present research, we shed light on the role attitudinal ambivalence plays in interpersonal liking. Specifically, we examine whether people express ambivalence strategically to generate a positive or negative social image, and whether this is dependent on the attitudinal ambivalence of their perceiver. We test two alternative hypotheses. In line with the attitude-similarity effect, people should express ambivalence toward ambivalent others to enhance interpersonal liking, as sharing ambivalence might socially validate the latter’s experience of attitudinal conflict. On the other hand, people might express more univalence, as ambivalence may drive ambivalent others toward the resolution of their attitudinal conflict, and univalent stances could help to achieve that goal. In two studies ( N = 449, 149), people expressed similar attitudes to those of their perceivers, even when the latter experienced attitudinal conflict (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, they composed an essay, the message of which validated their perceiver’s attitudinal conflict (Study 2). In line with these results, we further observe that the more people experienced their ambivalence as conflicting, the more they liked others who similarly experienced attitudinal conflict (Study 1). These findings suggest that the expression of ambivalence can have important interpersonal functions, as it might lead to an enhanced social image when interacting with those coping with attitudinal conflict.

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“…Although our interpretation of the link between ambivalence and interpersonal liking has mainly focused on its affective nature, this does not exclude the possibility that people strategically express ambivalence for other reasons. Ambivalent individuals might indeed be positively perceived based on their image of competence for offering pondered and balanced perspectives about controversial topics (Pillaud et al, 2013(Pillaud et al, , 2018. Furthermore, a growing line of research highlights the benefits of ambivalence for cognitive and emotional regulation, such as increase of attention and creativity (Fong, 2006), less biased decision-making (Guarana and Hernandez, 2016), higher estimation accuracy (Rees et al, 2013), and more effective coping with outcome uncertainty (Plambeck and Weber, 2009;Reich and Wheeler, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Study 2 examined whether people's intention when expressing ambivalence is indeed the social validation of the attitudinal conflict experienced by ambivalent others. While it has been suggested that ambivalence functions as a cue of social competence when addressing a controversial topic (Pillaud et al, 2013(Pillaud et al, , 2018, the expression of ambivalence may also be intended as a validating framework for those ambivalent others who experience an attitudinal conflict. The aim of Study 2 was to address this issue directly and, at the same time, offer a conceptual replication of Study 1.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of ambivalence, previous work shows that people regulate the expression of ambivalent attitudes based on the impression they aim to create on others. Specifically, people reported more ambivalence when they aimed to generate a positive impressionwhich they seemed to do by default in a baseline condition -, in comparison to when they intended to generate a negative impression (Pillaud et al, 2013). The authors argue that the expression of ambivalence can function as a cue of social competence when discussing controversial topics, i.e., when others may appreciate pondered and balanced information about both sides of a controversy (Pillaud et al, 2013(Pillaud et al, , 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Ambivalence and interpersonal liking: The expression of ambivalence as social validation of attitudinal conflict

Toribio-Flórez¹,

Harreveld²,

Schneider³

2020

Preprint

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Literature on attitude similarity suggests that sharing similar attitudes enhances interpersonal liking, but it remains unanswered whether this effect also holds for ambivalent attitudes. In the present research, we shed light on the role attitudinal ambivalence plays in interpersonal liking. Specifically, we examine whether people express ambivalence strategically to generate a positive or negative social image, and whether this is dependent on the attitudinal ambivalence of their perceiver. We test two alternative hypotheses. In line with the attitude-similarity effect, people should express ambivalence towards ambivalent others to enhance interpersonal liking, as sharing ambivalence might socially validate the latter’s experience of attitudinal conflict. On the other hand, people might express more univalence, as ambivalence may drive ambivalent others towards the resolution of their attitudinal conflict and univalent stances could help to achieve that goal. In two studies (N = 449, 149), people expressed similar attitudes to those of their perceivers, even when the latter experienced attitudinal conflict (Study 1 and 2). Moreover, they composed an essay, the message of which validated their perceiver’s attitudinal conflict (Study 2). In line with these results, we further observe that the more people experienced their ambivalence as conflicting, the more they liked others who similarly experienced attitudinal conflict (Study 1). These findings suggest that the expression of ambivalence can have important interpersonal functions, as it might lead to an enhanced social image when interacting with those coping with attitudinal conflict.

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The Social Value of Being Ambivalent

Cited by 40 publications

References 52 publications

Pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors: two levels of response to environmental social norms

Pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors: two levels of response to environmental social norms

Ambivalence and Interpersonal Liking: The Expression of Ambivalence as Social Validation of Attitudinal Conflict

Ambivalence and interpersonal liking: The expression of ambivalence as social validation of attitudinal conflict

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