Bivalent Evaluative Processes Underlying Attitudes

态度理论和民意调查已经成为社会结构的重要组成部分。它们影响着政治候选人的竞选策略和战术，影响着世界500强企业的营销策略和广告活动，影响着大众传媒的节目发展和策略，影响着公共教育的战略规划和节目发展。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。具体来说，当代态度理论和民意调查是基于这样一个前提，即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）的评价倾向。然而，现在有来自不同学科的证据表明，评估性倾向以比当前理论和测量更复杂的方式表现和激活，当代双相情感障碍（例如，赞成/反对，喜欢/不喜欢）自我报告量表可能掩盖人们评估性倾向的重要差异。提出了一种量化理论，该理论将现有的态度理论和研究纳入其中，同时呼吁注意先前工作可能相当误导的特定领域。一个系统的研究计划将对比当代态度理论和“评价空间”理论的预测。例如，使用传统的意见问题，无法区分对某个话题没有态度或感觉中立的人与对该话题有强烈冲突的人（即对该话题持有矛盾态度的人）。当积极和消极的评价过程被共同激活时，态度矛盾就产生了，因此，反映了一种特殊的行为冲突。研究将探讨态度矛盾和冲突的决定因素、中介和行为后果，并将其与传统的态度理论和研究整合到评估空间的更一般的理论框架中。鉴于行为评价过程的模糊性，阐明其动态和潜在的评价机制对态度理论和研究具有重要意义，对心理学基础理论具有广泛的意义。

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.