IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2020 - 100

Last Word
Christine Perakslis

mbivalence can be
defined as "...simultaneous conflicting
feelings or beliefs..."
[1] In Latin, the prefix
ambi means both; the suffix valence
means vigor, or the attraction and/or
aversion felt toward something [1].
Ambivalence is believed to be intensifying in society, resulting in inhibited
growth and impaired decision-making [2], [3]. Researchers assert that
humans utilize two basic forms of
coping with ambivalence: emotionfocused and problem-focused [2].
With emotion-focused coping,
humans avoid, procrastinate, or
downplay the significance of situations (i.e., valence-carriers); humans
may feel relieved superficially, yet
dilemmas remain unresolved [2]. With
problem-focused coping, humans
seek information and weigh the pros/
cons of alternatives (i.e., valence-carriers); humans invest time and cognitive effort to maximize confidence
for the best possible decisions [2].
In contrast to emotion-focused
coping, our community excavates
dichotomies; we probe ambivalenceinduced discomforts. Our contributors explored a variety of valencecarriers. We traversed a spectrum of
science and engineering to better
integrate conflicting values, needs,
and beliefs. Authors guided us toward
quality journalism; we envision growing pains likely to include dismay and
delight coexisting with rapidly disseminated acts of journalism. With
problem-focused coping, our com-

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2020.3012335
Date of current version: 2 September 2020

100

Technology
Valence-Carriers
and Ambivalence
Tolerance
damentals as prime rationale for
context-specific decisions.
As our community untangles
the vast array of negative and positive valences of technologies, we
help society to better cope. Consequently, we strengthen ambivalence tolerance.

munity informs and guides society
to explore difficult-to-solve scenarios
such as the need for balancing profit
and privacy relative to the centralized/decentralized dichotomies of
Collective Adaptive Systems (CASs)
[4]. We perceived the divergent attributes of precision agriculture (PA),
especially when farmers desire to use
PA to optimize the management of
field inputs for maximum yields, yet
do not desire to release data without
knowledge or consent. Predictably,
ambivalence often negatively impacts
adoption rates of technology [3].
When considering the deployment of technology, our community
helps society avoid false dilemmas
leading to the paralysis of ambi--
valence. We resist the either/or
of ambivalent thinking; rather, we
recognize technology usage as often
both good and bad, simultaneously.
Ambivalence is supposed to diminish if humans prioritize in a manner that is congruent with society's
needs over the long term [2]. Therefore, contributors help us cope with
the mental mess of ambivalence by
teaching us to prioritize such principles as using humanitarian funIEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

Author Information
Christine Perakslis serves as an ad--
junct professor, as well as a consultant for various industries. She can
be reached at perakslis@hotmail.com.

References
[1] P. Fusar-Poli and P. Politi, "Paul Eugen Bleuler
and the birth of schizophrenia (1908)," Am J
Psychiatry, vol. 165, no. 11, p. 1407, 2008.
[2] F. Van Harreveld, I.K. Schneider, I.K., H. Nohlen,
and J. van der Pligt, "Ambivalence and conflict in
attitudes and decision-making," in Cognitive Consistency: A Fundamental Principle in Social
Cognition, B. Gawronski and F. Strack, Eds., 2011.
[3] B. Rieger, "'Modern wonders': Technological
innovation and public ambivalence in Britain and
Germany, 1890s to 1933," History Workshop
J., vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 152-176, Spr. 2003.
[4] R. de Lemos et al., "Software engineering for
self-adaptive systems: A second research roadmap,"
in Proc. Software Engineering for Self-Adaptive Systems II: International Seminar (Dagstuhl Castle, Germany), Oct. 24-29, 2010 (Revised
Selected and Invited Papers). Berlin, Heidelberg:
Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 1-32.

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