APS Award Address

Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition: Warmth and Competence

Susan T. Fiske Princeton University

Social cognition reflects social evolutionary pressures. In encountering others, social beings need to know, immediately, whether the "other" is friend or foe (that is, intends good or ill) and next, whether the "other" can enact those intentions (that is, capability). New data from various labs confirm these two universal dimensions of social cognition: warmth and competence. Our own data range from new cultural comparisons to surveys to lab experiments to neuro-imaging; all converge on the utility of these two dimensions. Promoting survival, inferences about warmth and competence depend on social structure (respectively, competition and status). People perceived as warm and competent elicit uniformly positive emotions and behavior, whereas those perceived as lacking warmth and competence elicit uniform negativity. People classified as high on one dimension and low on the other elicit predictable, ambivalent affective and behavioral reactions. Warmth and competence help explain impressions of presidential candidates, new immigrant groups, and your next-door neighbor.