Sociology

Ideology

Organic chemistry

Qualitative research

PsycINFO

Dual (grammatical number)

Social science

Evolutionary biology

Biology

Politics

Literature

Epistemology

Grounded theory

Philosophy

Function (biology)

Political science

Social group

Psychology

Chemistry

Social representation

Representation (politics)

MEDLINE

Group (periodic table)

Social psychology

Journal of Experimental Psychology General

We investigate ordinary concepts of institutional groups: stable, cooperative, and socially constructed entities like clubs, companies, and academic departments. We use a transformation paradigm to examine participants' causal beliefs about how groups exist and persist over time. We consider whether participants believe groups are grounded in collective recognition or function. Participants' default views about groups see them as persisting because the members or a relevant third-party collectively recognize the members as belonging to a group (Studies 1-4). Social groups are dual-character though (Studies 5-8). There is a second sense: the true group. This true judgment is grounded in whether the group realizes its basic function. This sense is more influenced by participants' own ideological commitments. Thus, participants can disagree about whether a group truly exists even if they agree about the bare facts. We discuss implications for theories of conceptual representation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Collective recognition and function in concepts of institutional social groups.