Comparing the facets of the big two in global evaluation of self versus other people

Abstract

The Big Two of agency and communion can be divided into the facets of agency‐assertiveness, agency‐competence, communion‐morality, and communion‐warmth. The present research studies how these facets are related to global evaluation of self versus others. In five studies we tested whether self‐evaluation is reliably related to agency‐assertiveness (H1), and evaluation of others to communion‐morality (H2). Participants had to describe themselves (or a specific other person) on the facets and later to rate their self‐evaluation (or other‐evaluation). Supporting hypotheses, Studies 1, 3, and 4 showed that agency‐assertiveness was reliably related to self‐evaluation (Study 4: also agency‐competence). Studies 2–5 showed that communion‐morality was reliably related to evaluation of an acquaintance, but agency‐competence (Studies 3 and 5) and communion‐warmth (Study 2) were also important. We conclude that supporting H1, agency‐assertiveness is particularly important for self‐evaluation, whereas partly supporting H2, evaluation of others is associated with communion‐morality, but also agency‐competence and communion‐warmth.

Gender role identity and gender intensification: Agency and communion in adolescents’ spontaneous self-descriptions

“…However, while this instruction indisputably could have led participants to use the attribute 'honest' more often, it is not probable that this example led them to name more communal than agentic words in general. The attribute 'honest' falls within the morality facet of communion, whereas other frequently named communal words in our study were related to warmth, e.g., 'nice', 'helpful', 'friendly', 'polite' and 'animalloving' (Abele & Hauke, 2019;Abele et al, 2016). Third, the students were asked to describe themselves using a maximum of three attributes, which might restrict the scope of our data.…”

“…Communionoriented individuals describe themselves in expressive terms by referring to their relationships with others and their sense of belonging, while agency-oriented individuals describe themselves instrumentally in view of their individual accomplishments and capabilities (Abele et al, 2016;Bakan, 1966;Diehl et al, 2004). Recent research has demonstrated that agency and communion further subdivide into different facets, with agency composed of assertiveness and competence and communion composed of warmth and morality (Abele & Hauke, 2019). However, agency and communion are more than just dimensions of people's selfdescriptions -they also have implications for social functioning, health, and well-being (Helgeson, 1994).…”

Body posture and interpersonal perception in a dyadic interaction: A Big Two analysis

“…A final issue concerns the facets of the Big Two (Abele et al, 2008b; Abele & Hauke, 2019; Abele et al, 2016). In all three experiments, our measures tapped the agency‐assertiveness and the communion‐friendliness facets, but not the agency‐ability and communion‐morality facets.…”

Assertive, but Less Competent and Trustworthy? Perception of Police Officers with Tattoos and Piercings

“…The agentic facets are competence and assertiveness, as "getting ahead" requires both skill (competence) and motivation/ volition (assertiveness). Regarding communion, research has shown that morality plays a more central role in the evaluation of groups and individuals than warmth (Abele and Hauke 2019;Abele 2019, 2020a, b;Leach et al 2007;review: Brambilla and Leach 2014). Regarding agency, first empirical evidence shows that ascribed status is more related to assertiveness than to competence (Carrier et al 2014;Louvet et al 2019) as is self-esteem (Abele et al 2016;Hauke and Abele 2020a, b).…”