Groups perceived as unified are processed like single persons

Evidence

Group members who are closely tied to each other or to the group identity are generally perceived to behave in a more coherent manner and are subject to person-like information processing compared to the perception of a loose collection of people. The lay intuition that a social group may act as a distinct social agent has been conceptualized by the term “entitativity,” which was originally coined by Campbell (1958). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 141

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines ‘entitativity’ clearly, useful as a portable concept.
• XREF: Connects to moral psychology and jury/blame research on group responsibility.

Related

• Perceived cohesion within a group triggers person-like processing of its members. (similarity 0.93)
• Groups perceived as highly unified are treated like individual persons in impression formation. (similarity 0.92)
• Groups high in entitativity are processed like individual persons (similarity 0.90)
• Perceived entitativity arises from both cognitive information-processing and contextual-motivational variables. (similarity 0.88)
• Perceiving a group as an entity precedes stereotyping and discrimination against it (similarity 0.87)
• Entitativity research has measured perception but not its behavioral effects (similarity 0.87)
• Perceived group unity arises from proximity, similarity, and interdependence cues (similarity 0.87)
• People perceive groupness either through stable shared traits or through goal-driven process (similarity 0.87)
• People apply distinct essence and agency theories when perceiving group entitativity (similarity 0.87)
• Research neglects perceived entitativity of the intimacy and task groups people actually live in (similarity 0.87)
• Perceived group activity and entitativity mutually imply each other (similarity 0.86)
• High member interaction, shared attributes, and common goals increase perceived group entitativity. (similarity 0.86)
• Groups can be perceived as groups through agency and purpose (similarity 0.86)
• Groups perceived as entitative reduce members’ self-concept uncertainty most effectively (similarity 0.85)
• Group essence theories differ from similarity-based entitativity by treating groups as natural kinds (similarity 0.85)