Groups are seen as groups when they act coherently toward goals

Evidence

Agency Brewer et al.’s (2004) second intuitive theory of entitativity is referred to as an agency conception, capturing the perception of group entitativity as a group’s ability to get things done and to have the means to accomplish its goals. It is here that Brewer et al.’s ideas truly become a view of “dynamic entitativity,” as this conception highlights the importance of group organization, planning and coordination, and meaningful activity. In this view, groups are seen as groups because they are coherent, cohesive action centers: they are alive, they are doing, and they have purpose. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 243

Categorization

• QUESTION: Do threats from an outgroup get amplified when the outgroup is perceived as agentic? Agency-based entitativity may feed threat perception and conspiracy framing of cohesive, purposeful enemies.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 243
• XREF: connects to: Status hierarchies form naturally whenever groups pursue shared goals — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 57; A clear in-group representative position enables decisive collective action. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 64