Are Some Rabbits More Competent and Warm Than Others?

Abstract

Two theories are compared with respect to their ability to explain the emergence of two dimensions in psychological descriptions of human beings. For psychological realism, the two dimensions are assumed to be two realities existing in a descriptive (quasiscientific) psychology. Psychological descriptions are considered to be real descriptions of people’s personality; for the evaluative approach, the two dimensions are seen as two aspects of people’s social value. The psychological descriptions are considered direct expressions of a person’s social value. The results of three studies in which students were asked to give psychological descriptions of pet rabbits supported the evaluative approach. They showed (1) that a human psychological reality is not a prerequisite for the emergence of either dimension, and (2) that information about the social value of rabbits (social desirability and social utility) is enough to make the two dimensions appear.