【Topic】The Role of Self-Concept in the Emotional Consequences of Attitudinal Ambivalence

【Speaker】PANG Juan, Doctoral Student from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

【Time】2009-11-26 14:30-16:00

【Venue】Room 302, Shunde Building

【Language】English

【Organizer】Department of Marketing

Abstract

Attitudinal ambivalence, defined as the co-existence of positive and negative evaluations toward an attitude object, has significant consequences on consumer cognition and emotion. While scattered findings in the literature show that attitudinal ambivalence alone is not sufficient to evoke negative emotions, so far there has been yet a solid theory to incorporate and explain the various associations between attitudinal ambivalence and negative emotions. In the present research, the authors propose a self-concept mechanism, which suggests that attitudinal ambivalence will be unpleasantly experienced only when the ambivalent attitude has discrepancies with a normative attitude that is activated by consumers’ self-concept. Five studies are designed to validate this mechanism. The results of the first two studies revealed that the effects of attitudinal ambivalence on psychological discomfort diminish when consumers are primed with the normative prescription of positive-negative dichotomy in attitude formation.