Bivalent Evaluative Processes Underlying Attitudes

抽象的态度理论和民意调查已经成为社会结构的重要组成部分。它们影响政治候选人采取的竞选战略和战术，影响幸运的500家公司的营销战略和广告活动，影响大众媒体的节目开发和战略，以及公共教育的战略规划和节目开发。从理论上讲，民意调查为公众提供了一种反馈和塑造管理他们生活的机构的手段。这项研究的前提是，这一理论是不完整的，因此，基于当前态度理论和调查的决定可能会严重(尽管不明显)误导。具体地说，当代态度理论和民意调查的前提是，人们知道并将报告他们对态度对象(如候选人、产品、教育选择)的评价性倾向。然而，现在有来自不同学科的证据表明，与当前的理论和测量相比，评价性倾向以更复杂的方式被表现和激活，并且当代双相(例如，赞成/反对，喜欢/不喜欢)自我报告量表可能会掩盖人们评价性倾向的重要差异。一种量化的理论被提出，它包含了现有的态度理论和研究，同时提醒人们注意以前的工作可能相当具误导性的特定领域。一个系统的研究计划将对比当代态度理论和提出的“评估空间”理论所作的预测。例如，对一个话题没有态度或感觉中立的人，使用传统的观点问题，与对该话题有强烈冲突(即，对该话题持有矛盾态度)的人是无法区分的。当积极和消极的评价过程被共同激活时，态度矛盾心理就会产生，因此，它反映了行为冲突的一种特殊情况。研究将调查态度矛盾和冲突的决定因素、中介和行为后果，并将把这一点与传统的态度理论和研究整合到更广泛的评估空间的理论框架中。鉴于评价过程在行为中的普遍性，阐明评价过程的动力学和潜在的评价机制对态度理论和研究具有重要的指导意义，对心理学的基础理论具有普遍的广泛意义。

ABSTRACT Attitude theory and opinion polls have become an important part of the social fabric. They affect the campaign strategy and tactics adopted by political candidates, the marketing strategy and advertising campaigns of Fortunate 500 companies, the programming development and strategy in mass media, and strategic planning and program development in public education. In theory, opinion polls provide a means for the public to feedback and shape institutions that govern their lives. This research is based on the premise that this theory is incomplete and, consequently, decisions based on current attitude theory and surveys can be grossly (although nonobviously) misleading. Specifically, contemporary attitude theory and opinion polls are based on the premise that people know and will report their evaluative dispositions toward attitude objects (e.g., candidates, products, educational options). However, there is now evidence from various disciplines that evaluative dispositions are represented and activated in more complex ways than accommodated by current theory and measures, and that contemporary bipolar (e.g., favor/oppose, like/dislike) self-report scales can potentially mask important differences in people's evaluative dispositions. A quantitative theory is proposed that subsumes existing attitude theory and research while calling attention to specific areas in which prior work can be quite misleading. A systematic program of research will contrast the predictions made by contemporary theory of attitudes and the proposed theory of "evaluative space." For instance, individuals who have no attitude toward or feel neutrally about a topic are indistinguishable using traditional opinion questions from individuals who are strongly conflicted about (e.i., who possess ambivalent attitudes toward) the topic. Attitudinal ambivalence results when both positive and negative evaluative processes are coactivated and, as such, reflects a special case of behavioral conflict. Research will investigate the determinants, mediation, and behavioral consequences of attitude ambivalence and conflict, and will integrate this and traditional attitude theory and research within the more general theoretical framework of evaluative space. In view of the ubiguity of evaluative processes in behavior, illumination of their dynamics and the underlying evaluative mechanisms should have important ramifications for attitude theory and research, and broad significance for basic theory in psychology generally.