CROSS-DIMENSION AMBIVALENCE TOWARD SOCIAL-GROUPS - CAN AMBIVALENCE AFFECT INTENTIONS TO HIRE FEMINISTS

Cross-dimension ambivalence refers to the experience of evaluating an attitude object positively on one dimension (e.g, admiration) but nega tively on another (e.g., affection). In two studies, the authors exami ned cross-dimension ambivalence toward feminists. In Study 1, they fou nd that, as expected males exhibiting ambivalence toward feminists ten ded to rate them positively on the dimension of admiration but negativ ely on the dimension of affection. In Study 5 the authors primed parti cipants by having them attend to positive agentic qualities or negativ e interpersonal qualities in an audio recording of a job interview. Th ey were then asked to rate three resumes, one of which described a fem inist. Participants exhibiting cross-dimension ambivalence toward femi nists who received the positive prime reported more liking for, and gr eat intentions to hire, the feminist than did ambivalent people receiv ing the negative prime. Nonambivalent participants, however were unaff ected by the priming manipulation. Implications of this research are d iscussed.