Ambivalence, conflict, and decision making: attitudes and feelings in Germany towards NATO's military intervention in the Kosovo war

Two hundred and thirty-four persons were surveyed to assess personality asp ects (action versus state orientation, need for cognition, faith in intuiti on) and emotional aspects of their attitudes towards the NATO military inte rvention in the Kosovo war in the spring of 1999. Additionally, in an imagi ned scenario they were asked to decide whether they would sign a petition a ddressed to the German government protesting against military intervention. Three ways of dealing with this decision were differentiated: (1) decisive action, (2) avoiding the decision conflict, and (3) elaborating the decisi on problem with the goal of building up feelings to guide action (amplifica tion). Correlations between the variables were evaluated using path analysi s in order to predict the decision strategy from personality dimensions and attitude variables (ambivalence, involvement). High action orientation cau sed low attitude ambivalence and high personal involvement in the topic. St rong ambivalence prevented swift action and supported a tendency towards el aboration and amplification of feelings. Involvement had a favorable effect on action readiness arid a negative effect on conflict-avoiding strategies . Moreover; it moderated the effects of ambivalence on the preference for c onflict management strategies. The results confirm theoretical approaches t hat stress the importance of affect for acting and deciding. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.