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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 19 2015, @04:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the tell-it-like-it-is dept.

Melanie Tannenbaum has written several interesting blog posts about ambiguity intolerance and its connection to the early popular support Donald Trump is currently enjoying. Roughly speaking, people who are not comfortable without a plan of action or a path forward are said to have more ambiguity intolerance.

What may be surprising, however, is the research showing that people high in ambiguity intolerance feel so profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of uncertainty, they will often prefer a slightly negative yet certain outcome to a potentially-more-positive, uncertain one. In other words, people may find Donald Trump to be disagreeable, abrasive, or downright unlikeable. But because of his reputation for "telling it like it is" and "being honest to a fault," they also feel certain that they can believe Trump when he says he's telling the truth.

Tannenbaum points out that despite a record of Trump making contradictory comments in the past, people tend to believe his convictions on what he says because nobody would say those "non-normative" things if they really didn't believe it.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:01AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:01AM (#224809)

    > If I can manage it for AC posts to soylent (usually, I admit sometimes I am lazy)

    Yes, usually you are lazy. 99.9% of your posts have zero citations. The two blog posts you are bitching about both have citations.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:06AM (#224812)

    I see now... I apologize for my rant. Thanks.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:47AM (#224830)

    people high in ambiguity intolerance feel so profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of uncertainty, they will often prefer a slightly negative yet certain outcome to a potentially-more-positive, uncertain one

    I'm not seeing this in either source. The Jost et al 2003 review seems to repeatedly say the opposite (that conservatives have fear of uncertainty and so try to minimize negative outcomes):

    risk-averse prevention orientation characterizes conservatives’ thinking about uncertain outcomes...
    Motives to maintain security or resolve uncertainty or to avoid threat or prevent negative outcomes might lead one to adopt beliefs that are, for example, socially or economically conservative...
    Regulatory focus theorists argue that conservatives prioritize conformity, tradition, and security and that they are likely to be driven by ought guides (Rohan & Zanna, 1998) and the desire to prevent negative outcomes (Crowe & Higgins, 1997)...
    To the extent that conservatives are especially sensitive to the possibilities of loss—one reason why they wish to preserve the status quo—it follows that they should be generally more motivated by negatively framed outcomes...

    Which data or citation in those refs supports that claim?