Ambiguity Tolerance as a Component of Life Self-Fulfillment

Abstract

This article introduces a new view of ambiguity tolerance / intolerance in post-non-classical psychology as a component of life self-fulfillment strategies. After more than seventy years of scientific circulation, ambiguity tolerance still remains a vague term supported by very few empirical data. Since tolerance and intolerance to ambiguity are associated with different psychological modalities, this phenomenon is multidimensional and complex. In this respect, tolerance to ambiguity is much more than a character trait: it is a life strategy. This study approached tolerance to ambiguity as a component of life self-fulfillment strategies. It involved 73 subjects (7 men; 66 women) aged 18–25. The list of psychometric instruments included T. V. Kornilova’s New Ambiguity Tolerance / Intolerance Questionnaire, R. Norton’s Measurement of Ambiguity Tolerance (MAT-50), E. V. Bredun’s Temporal Modality of Life Fulfillment, and I. O. Loginova’s method for lifeworld stability studies. The cluster analysis revealed four types of life self-fulfillment strategies: unconstructive, compensatory, contradictory (paradoxical), and constructive (stable). Life self-fulfillment strategies proved to depend on a combination of lifeworld stability, temporal modalities of life self-fulfillment, and tolerance to ambiguity. Since self-fulfillment strategies are unlikely to be limited to the four abovementioned strategies, their range can become a new research perspective.

Keywords

• ambiguity tolerance
• ambiguity intolerance
• life self-fulfillment
• life self-fulfillment strategies
• temporal modalities of life self-fulfillment
• stability of the life world