Morality and competence in person- and self-perception

Morality and competence are posited to constitute two basic kinds of content in person-and self-perception. Moral content dominates person-perception because it typically has a direct and unconditional bearing on the well-being of other people surrounding the person who is described by the trait (including the perceiver). Competence dominates self-perception because it has a direct bearing on the well-being of the perceiver. A comprehensive research programme is reviewed showing that morality of others matters to the perceiver to a much higher degree than his/her competence. When forming global evaluations of others, the perceiver is more interested in their moral than competence qualities, construes their behaviour in moral terms, and his or her impressions and emotional responses are more strongly based on morality than competence considerations. Just the opposite is true for selfperception and self-attitudes. Own behaviours are construed more readily in competence than moral terms, and own competence influences self-evaluations and emotional responses to a higher degree than own morality.