ambivalence

ambivalence , coexistence of two opposing drives, desires, feelings, or emotions toward the same person, object, or goal. The ambivalent person may be unaware of either of the opposing wishes. The term was coined in 1911 by Eugen Bleuler , to designate one of the major symptoms of schizophrenia , the others being autism and disturbances of affect (i.e., emotion) and of association (i.e., thought disorders). Bleuler felt that there were normal instances of ambivalence, such as the feeling, after performing an action, that it would have been better to have done the opposite; but the normal person, unlike the schizophrenic, is not prevented by these opposing impulses from deciding and acting. In Freudian psychoanalysis, ambivalence was described as feelings of love and hate toward the same person. This specific meaning has attained common usage by psychiatrists and psychoanalysts.

ambivalence The coexistence, in one person, of opposing emotions or attitudes. Sigmund Freud often refers to the individual oscillating between love and hate for the same object or person. In sociology, the dual consciousness thesis posits a subordinate class which holds apparently inconsistent beliefs or values, resulting in an ambivalent attitude to some of the central institutions in society.

ambivalence (am-biv-ălĕns) n. (in psychology) the condition of holding opposite feelings (such as love and hate) for the same person or object.