Self‐esteem is dominated by agentic over communal information
Authors:
- Bogdan WojciszkeBWBogdan Wojciszke
- Wieslaw BarylaWBWieslaw Baryla
- Michal ParzuchowskiMPMichal Parzuchowski
- Aleksandra SzymkowASAleksandra Szymkow
- 9 February 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in European Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 41 (5) , 617-627
Abstract
We present a Double Perspective Model (DPM) explaining why agency (competence) and communion (warmth) constitute two basic content dimensions of social cognition. Every social action involves two perspectives: of the agent (a person who performs an action) and of the recipient (a person at whom the action is directed). Immediate cognitive goals of the agent and recipient differ, which results in heightened accessibility and weight of content referring either to agency (from the agent's perspective) or to communion (from the recipient's perspective). DPM explains why evaluations of other persons are dominated by communal over agentic considerations and allows a novel hypothesis that self‐esteem is dominated by agentic over communal information. We present several studies supporting this hypothesis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords
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