An historical introduction is made tying authoritarianism with ambiguity tolerance. Ambiguity tolerance is a personality variable in its own right, often associated with authoritarianism yet remaining separate from it. Ambiguity intolerance is defined as the tendency to perceive and interpret information that is marked by vague, fragmented, incomplete, inconsistent, contradictory, or unclear meaning as actual or potential sources of psychological threat. Ambiguity tolerance is defined as the tendency to perceive ambiguous situations as challenging and desirable. Efforts to measure ambiguity tolerance have met with varied success, however, it was not until Norton (197S) developed the Measurement of Ambiguity Tolerance (MAT-50) that accurate measurement became a possibility. The present study presents data that provides some construct validity to the MAT-SO. College students were administered the MAT-SO and divided into two groups: tolerants and intolerants. It was hypothesized that individuals who were in the intolerant group would produce more anxiety (as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) when presented with an ambiguous situation (the Rorschach inkblot test) than individuals in the tolerant group. The hypothesis was confirmed, individuals in the intolerant group displayed more state as well as trait anxiety than those in the tolerant group. Recommendations are made suggesting that future research use subjects from a less homogenous group.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between personality and performance under changing circumstances. Specifically, this paper analyzes how the personality trait of optimism, and a moderator of ambiguity tolerance, affects performance under changes in an Air-Traffic Control Simulation. Previous studies have not examined the effect that optimism has on performance under change. Results indicated that personality does not correlate significantly with performance. This study was completed due to interest in a positive attitude and how it may relate to performing in the workplace

abstract: The current study investigated the dynamic interplay of career decision ambiguity tolerance and career indecision over three assessment times in a sample of college students (n=583). While the previous research has repeatedly shown an association of career decision ambiguity tolerance with career indecision, the direction of this association has not been adequately assessed with longitudinal investigation. It was hypothesized in this study that there is a reciprocal pattern of career decision ambiguity tolerance leading to subsequent career indecision and career indecision leading to subsequent career decision ambiguity tolerance. Using a cross-lagged panel design, this study found support for the reciprocal pattern that aversion with ambiguity led to increased negative experience, choice anxiety, and lack of readiness in career decision making, while negative experience, choice anxiety, and lack of readiness led to increased aversion with ambiguity as well. Additionally, this study revealed that choice anxiety and readiness for career decision making led to increased interests in new information. The key findings were discussed with respect to the theoretical and clinical implications for career counseling along with limitations and suggestions for future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2017

A major focus of many U.S. higher-education institutions is to increase internationalization of their campus through, in part, the promotion of study abroad experiences among domestic students and to recruit and retain international students to their institution. This study explored the effects of certain factors on various domains of the Global Engagement Measurement Scale (GEMS) – Cultural Engagement, Ambiguity Tolerance, Knowledge of Host Site, and Diversity Openness – among U.S. students who have studied abroad and international exchange students who have studied in the U.S. There was a particular focus, on determining whether U.S. study abroad students, compared to international students, rate differently on GEMS scales, after controlling for other possible confounding variables. Participants were recruited from three Southeastern, public, 4-year universities and were eligible if they were enrolled at any of those universities in the last five years. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed several factors significantly affected each of the various outcomes on the GEMS. Cultural Engagement and Ambiguity Tolerance were both predicted by the institution of study and the type of student (U.S. study abroad versus international exchange). Knowledge of Host Site was predicted by whether or not the trip was government sponsored, pre-trip familiarity with the host culture, and type of student. The overall regression model for Diversity Openness was not significant. These results provide insights into key factors that affect the overall global engagement of college students and can be used to inform university faculty and staff about features they can add to improve campus internationalization efforts.

This study explored the relationships between roughly 330 participants' tolerance of ambiguity and their preference for either an inductive or deductive presentation of grammar by means of an online survey. Most participants were college students. Other variables examined included years of study, in-country experience, proficiency, age, year in school, and language of choice. A new instrument for measuring inductive vs. deductive preference was also created based on Cohen, Oxford, and Chi's (2001) Learning Style Survey (LSS). Results showed weak correlations between: tolerance of ambiguity and inductive preference (.25), tolerance of ambiguity and proficiency (.25), and inductive preference and proficiency (.20). Additional findings include: a correlation (.62) between proficiency and years of instruction received, a slight correlation (.22) between age and tolerance of ambiguity, no correlation between years of language instruction and tolerance of ambiguity, no correlation between studying abroad and ambiguity tolerance or inductive/deductive preference, and no correlation between age and inductive vs. deductive preference. Lastly, data was analyzed to determine whether language was a contributing factor or not, and only the participants learning Japanese were significantly different (p = .004), with a higher preference for inductive learning.

This thesis reports on the association between particular psychological attributes of owner/operators and organisational financial performance in New Zealand small to medium sized enterprises (SME's). The specific psychological attributes of interest are ambiguity tolerance, self efficacy, resilience and planning orientation. A direct response mail survey was sent to 4,500 New Zealand organisations fitting the criteria for this study. Ambiguity tolerance, self efficacy and resilience were assessed using established item scales from the literature. Planning orientation was assessed using planning scenario analysis. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling. Results show that the planning orientation of owner/operators has a significant direct association with organisational financial performance. Ambiguity tolerance, self efficacy and resilience were found to have a significant indirect association with financial performance. The findings of this research have implications for both theory and practice. Theoretically there are implications for cognitive and personality psychology, organisational theory and behaviour, entrepreneurship and research related to the psychological attributes of interest in this thesis. Practically, the results provide managers with a meaningful tool to aid in the selection, training and management of individuals responsible for strategic decision making in SME and other organisational settings.

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Объектом исследования явилась жизнестойкость личности. Предметом исследования стала связь жизнестойкости и ее показателей с толерантностью к неопределенности и показателями профессионального самоотношения. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения, списка литературы (80 источников) и приложений, включающего в себя бланки применявшихся методик и результаты статистической обработки данных. Объем магистерской диссертации 86 страниц, на которых размещены 12 рисунков и 8 таблиц. Во введении раскрывается актуальность проблемы исследования, разработанность проблематики, ставятся цель и задачи исследования, определяются объект и предмет исследования, формулируются основная и дополнительные гипотезы, указываются методы и эмпирическая база, а также этапы проведения исследования, научная новизна, теоретическая и практическая значимость работы. Первая глава включает в себя обзор иностранной и отечественной литературы по темам жизнестойкости, толерантности к неопределенности и профессионального самоотношения. Представлены разделы, посвященные анализу специфики профессиональной деятельности практического психолога. Выводы по первой главе представляют собой итоги по изучению теоретического материала. Вторая глава посвящена эмпирической части исследования. В ней представлено описание организации и методов проведенного исследования и результатов, полученных по всем использованным методикам: теста жизнестойкости С. Мадди (в адаптации Д.А. Леонтьева и Е.И. Рассказовой), методики определения толерантности к неопределенности С. Баднера (в адаптации А.Г. Солдатовой), а также опросника профессионального самоотношения К.В. Карпинского и А.М. Колышко. Также в главе представлен корреляционный и регрессионный анализ результатов исследования. Выводы по главе 2 включают в себя основные результаты эмпирического исследования. В заключении в обобщенном виде изложены результаты теоретической и эмпирической частей работы, а также выводы по выдвинутым гипотезам, обоснована практическая значимость исследования и описаны возможные перспективы дальнейшей разработки данной проблематики. / The object of the study was the resilience of the individual. The subject of the study was the relationship of hardiness and its indicators with tolerance to uncertainty and indicators of professional self-attitude. The master's thesis consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of references (80 sources) and appendices, including forms of the applied methods and the results of statistical data processing. The volume of the master's thesis is 86 pages, which contain 12 figures and 8 tables. The introduction reveals the relevance of the research problem, study problem, put the goal and objectives of the study, defines the object and subject of research, formulates the main and additional hypotheses that specifies the methods and empirical base, as well as the stages of the study, scientific novelty, theoretical and practical significance of the work. The first chapter includes a review of foreign and domestic literature on the topics of hardiness, tolerance to uncertainty and professional self-attitude. The sections devoted to the analysis of the specifics of the professional activity of a practical psychologist are presented. The conclusions of the first chapter are the results of the study of the theoretical material. The second chapter is devoted to the empirical part of the study. It describes the organization and methods of the study and the results obtained by all the methods used: the test of hardiness of S. Maddi (in the adaptation of D. A. Leontiev and E. I. Rasskazova), the method of determining tolerance to uncertainty of S. Badner (in the adaptation of A. G. Soldatova), as well as the questionnaire of professional self-attitude of K. V. Karpinsky and A. M. Kolyshko. The chapter also presents a correlation and regression analysis of the results of the study. The conclusions of chapter 2 include the main results of the empirical study. In conclusion, the results of the theoretical and empirical parts of the work, as well as conclusions on the hypotheses put forward, are summarized, the practical significance of the study is justified and possible prospects for further development of this problem are described.

This dissertation describes the credibility judgment process using social psychological theories of dual-processing, which state that information processing outcomes are the result of an interaction “between a fast, associative information- processing mode based on low-effort heuristics, and a slow, rule-based information processing mode based on high-effort systematic reasoning” (Chaiken & Trope, 1999, p. ix). Further, this interaction is illustrated by describing credibility judgments as a choice between examining easily identified peripheral cues (the messenger) and content (the message), leading to different evaluations in different settings. The focus here is on the domain of the Web, where ambiguous authorship, peer- produced content, and the lack of gatekeepers create an environment where credibility judgments are a necessary routine in triaging information. It reviews the relevant literature on existing credibility frameworks and the component factors that affect credibility judgments. The online encyclopedia (instantiated as Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica) is then proposed as a canonical form to examine the credibility judgment process. The two main claims advanced here are (1) that information sources are composed of both message (the content) and messenger (the way the message is delivered), and that the messenger impacts perceived credibility; and (2) that perceived credibility is tempered by information need (individual engagement). These claims were framed by the models proposed by Wathen & Burkell (2002) and Chaiken (1980) to forward a composite dual process theory of credibility judgments, which was tested by two experimental studies. The independent variables of interest were: media format (print or electronic); reputation of source (Wikipedia or Britannica); and the participant’s individual involvement in the research task (high or low). The results of these studies encourage a more nuanced understanding of the credibility judgment process by framing it as a dual-process model, and showing that certain mediating variables can affect the relative use of low-effort evaluation and high- effort reasoning when forming a perception of credibility. Finally, the results support the importance of messenger effects on perceived credibility, implying that credibility judgments, especially in the online environment, and especially in cases of low individual engagement, are based on peripheral cues rather than an informed evaluation of content. / text