THE SOCIAL STRUCTURAL BASIS OF THE ORGANIZATION OF PERSONS IN MEMORY

This paper summarizes and discusses three studies of patterns in the r ecall of persons in socially bounded communities. Individuals in three different communities (a graduate academic program, a religious fello wship, and a department in a formal organization) free-listed the name s of persons in their respective communities. Results indicate that th e individuals in each community share a common cognitive structure of community members that is based on the community's social structure. T hese studies, combined with the results of other research, strongly su ggest that persons are organized in memory according to social structu ral principles and that affiliation and dominance are the principal di mensions of social cognition. Suggestions are offered for future resea rch to test the generality of these findings.