What Lies in the Middle? An Attitudinal Approach to Understanding Affective Valence

Valence plays a critical role in both affect and attitude research. Typically, it is conceptualized as a bipolar dimension, ranging from positive to negative. But what lies in the middle of this continuum is unclear. While affective researchers have touched on this issue, attitude researchers have explored it more extensively, often interpreting the middle as reflecting a neutral, ambivalent, or a “I don’t know/care” reaction. This paper examines how these three categories are conceptualized across both fields, highlighting key similarities and differences. I argue that neutrality may be a core component of not only the neutral category, but also the ambivalent and “I don’t know/care” categories. Specifically, ambivalence can co-occur with neutrality, and the “I don’t know/care” responses might reflect neutrality. I end by discussing how a greater understanding of neutrality is needed not only to understand these three types of response categories, but also the nature of valence and affective experience.