Benefits of being ambivalent: The relationship between trait ambivalence and attribution biases
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In: British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 60, No. 2, 04.2021, p. 570-586.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Benefits of being ambivalent
T2 - The relationship between trait ambivalence and attribution biases
AU - Schneider, Iris K.
AU - Novin, Sheida
AU - van Harreveld, Frenk
AU - Genschow, Oliver
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Ambivalence refers to the experience of having both positive and negative thoughts and feelings at the same time about the same object, person, or issue. Although ambivalence research has focused extensively on negative consequences, recently, scholars turned their lens to the positive effects of ambivalence, demonstrating beneficial effects on judgements and decision-making processes. So far, this work has focused on state ambivalence, which is ambivalence as a direct response to a specific stimulus. However, there are substantial individual differences in ambivalence: Some people are just more ambivalent than others. Taking a first step in understanding how these individual differences relate to judgement and decision-making, we examine the relationship between trait ambivalence and cognitive bias in social judgements tasks. Specifically, we look at two of the most pervasive and consequential attribution biases in person perception: correspondence bias and self-serving bias. We find a negative relationship between trait ambivalence and correspondence bias. The higher individuals are in trait ambivalence, the smaller their bias towards attributing behaviour to a person’s disposition (Study 1A and B). We find the same for self-serving bias (Study 2A and B). In sum, we show that trait ambivalence is negatively related to cognitive bias in person perception.
AB - Ambivalence refers to the experience of having both positive and negative thoughts and feelings at the same time about the same object, person, or issue. Although ambivalence research has focused extensively on negative consequences, recently, scholars turned their lens to the positive effects of ambivalence, demonstrating beneficial effects on judgements and decision-making processes. So far, this work has focused on state ambivalence, which is ambivalence as a direct response to a specific stimulus. However, there are substantial individual differences in ambivalence: Some people are just more ambivalent than others. Taking a first step in understanding how these individual differences relate to judgement and decision-making, we examine the relationship between trait ambivalence and cognitive bias in social judgements tasks. Specifically, we look at two of the most pervasive and consequential attribution biases in person perception: correspondence bias and self-serving bias. We find a negative relationship between trait ambivalence and correspondence bias. The higher individuals are in trait ambivalence, the smaller their bias towards attributing behaviour to a person’s disposition (Study 1A and B). We find the same for self-serving bias (Study 2A and B). In sum, we show that trait ambivalence is negatively related to cognitive bias in person perception.
KW - ambivalence
KW - attitudes
KW - attribution bias
KW - correspondence bias
KW - mixed feelings
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090313976&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/bjso.12417
DO - 10.1111/bjso.12417
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 32893893
AN - SCOPUS:85090313976
VL - 60
SP - 570
EP - 586
JO - British Journal of Social Psychology
JF - British Journal of Social Psychology
SN - 0144-6665
IS - 2
ER -