Ambivalence and evaluative response amplification

Abstract

Each subject evaluated an interviewee on the basis of information in a transcript. The interviewee was portrayed either favorably or unfavorably; he was labeled as “handicapped” or “Chicano,” or he was not labeled. Half the subjects were exposed to a pretreatment designed to induce ambivalent affect toward the physically handicapped. These subjects subsequently evaluated the favorably portrayed handicapped interviewee more positively, and the unfavorably portrayed handicapped interviewee more negatively, than did control subjects. Moreover, this effect generalized to Chicano and nonstigmatized stimulus persons. Independent of this finding, subjects’ evaluations of the handicapped were more favorable than evaluations of the other stimulus persons. © 1979, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.