Facets of the Fundamental Content Dimensions: Agency with Competence and Assertiveness—Communion with Warmth and Morality

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Abstract

Agency (A) and communion (C) are fundamental content dimensions. We propose a facet-model that differentiates A into assertiveness (AA) and competence (AC) and C into warmth (CW) and morality (CM). We tested the model in a cross-cultural study by comparing data from Asia, Australia, Europe, and the USA (overall N = 1.808). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported our model. Both the two-factor model and the four-factor model showed good fit indices across countries. Participants answered additional measures intended to demonstrate the fruitfulness of distinguishing the facets. The findings support the model's construct validity by positioning the fundamental dimensions and their facets within a network of self-construal, values, impression management, and the Big Five personality factors: In all countries, A was related to independent self-construal and to agentic values, C was related to interdependent self-construal and to communal values. Regarding the facets, AA was always related to A values, but the association of AC with A values fell below our effect size criterion in four of the five countries. A (both AA and AC) was related to agentic impression management. However, C (both CW and CM) was neither related to communal nor to agentic impression management. Regarding the Big Five personality factors, A was related to emotional stability, to extraversion, and to conscientiousness. C was related to agreeableness and to extraversion. AA was more strongly related to emotional stability and extraversion than AC. CW was more strongly related to extraversion and agreeableness than CM. We could also show that self-esteem was more related to AA than AC; and that it was related to CM, but not to CW. Our research shows that (a) the fundamental dimensions of A and C are stable across cultures; and (b) that the here proposed distinction of facets of A and C is fruitful in analyzing self-perception. The here proposed measure, the AC-IN, may be a useful tool in this research area. Applications of the facet model in social perception research are discussed.

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Most cited references 54

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A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition.

Susan Fiske, Amy J C Cuddy, Peter Glick … (2002)

Stereotype research emphasizes systematic processes over seemingly arbitrary contents, but content also may prove systematic. On the basis of stereotypes' intergroup functions, the stereotype content model hypothesizes that (a) 2 primary dimensions are competence and warmth, (b) frequent mixed clusters combine high warmth with low competence (paternalistic) or high competence with low warmth (envious), and (c) distinct emotions (pity, envy, admiration, contempt) differentiate the 4 competence-warmth combinations. Stereotypically, (d) status predicts high competence, and competition predicts low warmth. Nine varied samples rated gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, and disability out-groups. Contrary to antipathy models, 2 dimensions mattered, and many stereotypes were mixed, either pitying (low competence, high warmth subordinates) or envying (high competence, low warmth competitors). Stereotypically, status predicted competence, and competition predicted low warmth.

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Agency and communion from the perspective of self versus others.

Andrea E. Abele, Bogdan Wojciszke (2007)

On the basis of previous research, the authors hypothesize that (a) person descriptive terms can be organized into the broad dimensions of agency and communion of which communion is the primary one; (b) the main distinction between these dimensions pertains to their profitability for the self (agency) vs. for other persons (communion); hence, agency is more desirable and important in the self-perspective, and communion is more desirable and important in the other-perspective; (c) self-other outcome dependency increases importance of another person's agency. Study 1 showed that a large number of trait names can be reduced to these broad dimensions, that communion comprises more item variance, and that agency is predicted by self-profitability and communion by other-profitability. Studies 2 and 3 showed that agency is more relevant and desired for self, and communion is more relevant and desired for others. Study 4 showed that agency is more important in a close friend than an unrelated peer, and this difference is completely mediated by the perceived outcome dependency. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

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Group virtue: the importance of morality (vs. competence and sociability) in the positive evaluation of in-groups.

Colin Leach, Naomi Ellemers, Manuela Barreto (2007)

Although previous research has focused on competence and sociability as the characteristics most important to positive group evaluation, the authors suggest that morality is more important. Studies with preexisting and experimentally created in-groups showed that a set of positive traits constituted distinct factors of morality, competence, and sociability. When asked directly, Study 1 participants reported that their in-group's morality was more important than its competence or sociability. An unobtrusive factor analytic method also showed morality to be a more important explanation of positive in-group evaluation than competence or sociability. Experimental manipulations of morality and competence (Study 4) and morality and sociability (Study 5) showed that only in-group morality affected aspects of the group-level self-concept related to positive evaluation (i.e., pride in, or distancing from, the in-group). Consistent with this finding, identification with experimentally created (Study 2b) and preexisting (Studies 4 and 5) in-groups predicted the ascription of morality, but not competence or sociability, to the in-group.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Andrea E. Abele: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/170470/overview

Nicole Hauke: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/361577/overview

Kim Peters: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/383584/overview

Eva Louvet: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/383935/overview

Aleksandra Szymkow: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/389799/overview

Yanping Duan: URI : http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/361888/overview

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Front Psychol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Front Psychol

Journal ID (publisher-id): Front. Psychol.

Title: Frontiers in Psychology

Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.

ISSN (Electronic): 1664-1078

Publication date (Electronic): 22 November 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 7

Electronic Location Identifier: 1810

Affiliations

[1] ¹Department of Psychology and Sport Science, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg Erlangen, Germany

[2] ²School of Psychology, University of Queensland Brisbane, QLD, Australia

[3] ³Laboratoire de Psychologie des Cognitions, University of Strasbourg Strasbourg, France

[4] ⁴University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sopot Campus Warsaw, Poland

[5] ⁵Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong, China

Author notes

Edited by: Jeremy A. Frimer, University of Winnipeg, Canada

Reviewed by: Jan Cieciuch, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland; Tanja Gabriele Baudson, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

*Correspondence: Andrea E. Abele andrea.abele-brehm@ 123456fau.de

This article was submitted to Personality and Social Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology

†Shared first authorship.

Article

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01810

PMC ID: 5118442

PubMed ID: 27920737

SO-VID: 24a0e7bd-514b-4611-92d1-3173b2c65471

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

History

Date received : 15 July 2016

Date accepted : 02 November 2016

Page count

Figures: 0, Tables: 6, Equations: 0, References: 97, Pages: 17, Words: 14577

Funding

Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 10.13039/501100001659

Award ID: Ab/45 10-2

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Facets of the Fundamental Content Dimensions: Agency with Competence and Assertiveness—Communion with Warmth and Morality

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Most cited references 54

A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition.

Agency and communion from the perspective of self versus others.

Group virtue: the importance of morality (vs. competence and sociability) in the positive evaluation of in-groups.

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Cited by 91

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