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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 8, 1143-1152 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/01461672022811012
© 2002 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Ambivalence and Response Amplification: A Motivational Perspective

David W. Bell

University of Western Ontario, dwbell3{at}uwo.ca

Victoria M. Esses

University of Western Ontario, vesses{at}uwo.ca

This research investigated whether ambivalence-induced response amplification occurs because of a motivation to reduce ambivalence. In Study 1, participants’ ambivalence toward Native people was assessed and they then read a positive or negative essay on Native land claims. As predicted, ambivalent participants displayed a significant difference between the positive and negative message conditions in their attitudes toward Native people, whereas nonambivalent participants did not. Study 2 followed the same procedure as Study 1 and also included motive manipulation essays designed to manipulate the motivation to reduce ambivalence. The negative motive essay emphasized the disadvantages of seeing both the good and the bad in another person or situation (i.e., ambivalence is negative), whereas the positive motive essay emphasized the advantages (i.e., ambivalence is positive). As predicted, ambivalent participants who received the negative motive manipulation displayed response amplification, whereas ambivalent participants who received the positive motive manipulation did not.


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