The psychological characteristics of ambivalent people

Abstract Ambivalence— broadly defined as overlapping approach-avoidance tendencies, manifested behaviorally, cognitively, or affectively, and directed toward a given person or experience— assumes a prominent role in several diverse psychological literatures. It plays a major role in psychoanalytic theories of psychopathology as well as in sociological, cognitive, developmental, and psychometric approaches to normal psychological functioning. A review of the contributions from each of these perspectives suggests that ambivalence may be characteristic of certain normal individuals in addition to particular psychodiagnostic categories. The present paper attempts to identify and describe the characteristics of ambivalent people. Throughout the paper, the clinical implications of these characteristics are discussed. A closing section unifies the earlier sections of the paper by identifying four types of perceived loss that may impede the acknowledgment and resolution of ambivalent conflicts in psychotherapy.

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