Recent research has demonstrated the malleability of self-views to subtle situational influence but has not uncovered features of the self-concept representation that make it susceptible to such change. Using research on attitude ambivalence as a foundation, we predicted that the self would be most likely to respond to a subtle change induction when the targeted self-beliefs were objectively am...

Phase inversion in liquid-liquid dispersions corresponds to the transitional boundary between Oil-in-Aqueous dispersion and Aqueous-in-Oil dispersion. A theoretical model based on simple assumptions was proposed to predict phase inversion point, ambivalence region and the hysteresis effect of inversion. Experimental data from the literature were used to validate the model and results were c...

Ambivalence is a presumably unpleasant experience, and coming to terms with it is an intricate part of human existence. It is argued that ambivalent attitude holders cope with their ambivalence through compensatory perceptions of order. We first show that ambivalence leads to an increase in (visual) perceptions of order (Study 1). In Study 2 we conceptually replicate this finding by showing tha...

In this study, the authors used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS; P. Ekman & W. V. Friesen, 1978) to examine the immediate facial responses of abstinent smokers exposed to smoking cues. The aim was to investigate whether facial expressions thought to be linked to ambivalence would relate to more traditional measures of ambivalence about smoking. The authors adapted N. A. Heather's (1998) d...

Recent research has demonstrated the malleability of self-views to subtle situational influence but has not uncovered features of the self-concept representation that make it susceptible to such change. Using research on attitude ambivalence as a foundation, the current article predicted that the self would be most likely to respond to a subtle change induction when the targeted self-beliefs we...

Theory suggests that aging parents and their adult children experience ambivalence (conflicting emotions) as a result of unclear norms governing the tie between them. This study investigated personality differences and relationship context differences in ambivalence, as well as the reactions of parents and offspring to each other. As part of the Adult Family Study, 474 individuals from 158 fami...

Ambivalence is thought to impact consumption of food, alcohol and drugs, possibly via influences on craving, with cravers often being simultaneously drawn toward and repelled from ingestion. So far, little is known about the temporal dynamics of ambivalence, especially as it varies in relationship to consumption. Participants (n=482, 56.8% female) completed the Positive and Negative Affect Sche...

BACKGROUND The decision to become a living liver donor is a stressful event. Ambivalence in decision making may result in psychological distress. Thus, the purpose of this study was to provide a description of the ambivalence of potential living liver donors, to examine the predictors of ambivalence, and to compare the ambivalence of potential living liver donors with that of actual living live...

Ambivalence researchers often collapse separate measures of positivity and negativity into a single numerical index of ambivalence and refer to it as objective, operative, or potential ambivalence. The authors argue that this univariate approach to ambivalence models undermines the validity of subsequent statistical analyses because it confounds the effects of the index and its components. To r...

Previous content analyses of teen girl magazines have investigated the concept of sexual ambivalence—messages about sex and sexuality that contradict each other. However, no study to date has examined a more encompassing notion of sexual ambivalence by focusing on relationship ambivalence (i.e., contradictory notions of what constitutes, and is acceptable in, romantic relationships between two ...