The agony of ambivalence and ways to resolve it: introducing the MAID model.

Full Abstract

People are generally averse toward conflict between beliefs and/or feelings underlying their attitudes-that is, attitudinal ambivalence. This review integrates literature on attitudinal ambivalence with theories on decision making and coping strategies to gain a better understanding of when and how people deal with feelings of ambivalence. First it shows that ambivalence is experienced as being particularly unpleasant when the ambivalent attitude holder is confronted with the necessity to make a choice concerning the ambivalent attitude object; then, incongruent evaluative components of the attitude become accessible, and feelings of uncertainty about the potential outcomes arise, which may involve the anticipation of aversive emotions. Several coping strategies are employed when ambivalence is experienced as unpleasant. Emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies are discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of the MAID (model of ambivalence-induced discomfort), which aims to describe the consequences of ambivalence.

Author information

Author/s: van Harreveld, Frenk (F); van der Pligt, Joop (J); de Liver, Yael N (YN);

Affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. f.vanharreveld(-atsign-)uva.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc (Pers Soc Psychol Rev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Feb; vol 13 (issue 1) : pp 45-61

Dates: Created 2009/01/15; Completed 2009/03/12;

PMID: 19144904, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 3/12/2009, IMS Date: 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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