ABSTRACT
Koch and Imhoff explore the meaning dimension(s) that people prioritize to mentally organize and compare multiple targets in ambiguous populations. In addition to free choice of dimension(s) their study designs included free choice of targets, too. The authors conclude (1) that for social groups generated in such a way, in addition to agency and communion, a third prioritized dimension emerges. This dimension is beliefs ranging from conservative to progressive. They conclude (2) that perceiving others as conservative-progressive serves the purpose to balance exploitation (routine, safe choices) and exploration (alternative, risky choices). Finally, they show (3) that communion increases with perceiver-target similarity in agency and beliefs. Thus, the relation between targets’ agency and communion is negative, curvilinear, and positive for perceivers low, average, and high in agency, respectively. Likewise, the relation between targets’ progressiveness and communion is negative, curvilinear, and positive for perceivers conservative, neutral, and progressive in beliefs, respectively. So, there is controversy on who is communal. (4) People spontaneously use agency, beliefs, and communion to mentally organize and compare targets.
