Attitudinal Ambivalence in Social Representations
Summary
Social representations are collectively shared frameworks that shape how communities perceive and communicate about objects of common concern. Within this domain, attitudinal ambivalence arises when individuals hold concurrent positive and negative evaluations towards a single object, idea or practice. This duality can be objective – when disparate beliefs yield conflicting assessments – or subjective, when the individual feels torn and uncertain about their own stance. The intersection of ambivalence and social representation highlights the dynamic interplay between personal evaluation and group-level constructions. Ambivalent attitudes often temper the clarity of representational cores and may moderate the translation of shared beliefs into consistent behaviours. Understanding this process requires attention to the structural approach of social representations, the measurement of ambivalence, and the contextual factors that either amplify or resolve internal conflicts. Practically, attitudinal ambivalence in social representations bears on areas such as environmental behaviour, public health messaging and policy acceptance, where collective discourses both reflect and reinforce individual indecision.
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Attitudinal Ambivalence in Social Representations publication trend
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Technical terms
Attitudinal ambivalence: The simultaneous experience of positive and negative evaluations towards a single object or issue.
Social representation: A collective system of beliefs, values and practices through which groups interpret and communicate about social realities.
Objective ambivalence: A form of ambivalence quantified by the existence of distinct favourable and unfavourable cognitions about an attitude object.
Subjective ambivalence: The personal experience of conflict or tension arising from holding competing evaluative responses.
References
- Betwixt and between: A systematic review on the role of ambivalence in environmental behaviours. Journal of Environmental Psychology (2024).
- Climate-friendly food-choice intentions among emerging adults: extending the theory of planned behavior with objective ambivalence, climate-change worry and optimism. Frontiers in Psychology (2023).
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