Data to the AE project

Emotional ambivalence toward others’ outcomes may involve two competing appraisal systems: an empathy-based appraisal concerned with another’s welfare and a justice-based appraisal concerned with whether outcomes are morally deserved. This research tested whether these appraisals can be co-activated within a single evaluation and how arousal shapes such emotional ambivalence. Across two studies, participants evaluated prosocial or selfish individuals experiencing positive or negative outcomes. In Study 1, self-reports indicated positive reactions to prosocial success and negative reactions to selfish success, with the reverse for misfortunes. fEMG showed simultaneous activation of the zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii, providing physiological evidence of co-activation in mixed responses. Study 2 found greater ambivalence under low arousal than high arousal. The results indicate that emotional ambivalence arises when empathy-based and justice-based appraisals are jointly engaged and that arousal limits the conditions under which this co-activation becomes observable.