Psychological Experience of Attitudinal Ambivalence as a Function of Manipulated Source of Conflict and Individual Difference in Self-Construal

Abstract

Much research has emerged recently examining attitudinal

ambivalence. One recent finding suggests that feelings of attitudinal

ambivalence can come about either because of an individuals own

feelings of positivity and negativity or because of interpersonal

attitudinal discrepancy. The present research examines the question of

whether differences in self-construal moderate the impact of an

intrapersonal (vs. interpersonal) source of conflict on attitudinal

ambivalence. We have found that individuals who possess

interdependent self-construals reveal greater attitudinal ambivalence

when the source of conflict is interpersonal than intrapersonal, whereas

individuals who possess more independent self-construals are

influenced in the opposite manner.