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Self‐esteem is dominated by agentic over communal information
Author(s) -
Wojciszke Bogdan,
Baryla Wieslaw,
Parzuchowski Michal,
Szymkow Aleksandra,
Abele Andrea E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.791
Subject(s) - psychology , perspective (graphical) , social psychology , agency (philosophy) , competence (human resources) , cognition , action (physics) , social cognition , self esteem , social competence , epistemology , social change , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , economics , economic growth
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.