The primacy of communion over agency and its reversals in evaluations

Bogdan Wojciszke , Andrea E. Abele

Abstract

Agency (A) and communion (C) are basic dimensions of social judgment and C is typically more important than A. Building on the two-interest account of bidimensionality of social cognition, we hypothesized that this ‘‘C over A’’ pattern is typical for judging distant persons but is attenuated or even reversed when people judge the self or interdependent persons. In Study 1 we found that the construal of events leading to changes in a target’s evaluation was different in dependence on perspective. There was a ‘‘C over A’’ pattern in case of distant others, but an ‘‘A over C’’ pattern in case of close friends or the self. In Study 2 we found that the degree of dependence on one’s supervisor determined the ‘‘C over A’’ pattern, as well. C was more important for the supervisor’s overall evaluation if there was no dependence, and conversely A was more important in case of dependence. The studies underline the theoretical significance of a social interaction perspective in social judgment, and particularly in judgments on the two basic dimensions.