THE USE OF DIFFERENTIATION AND INTEGRATION PROCESSES - EMPIRICAL-STUDIES OF SEPARATE AND CONNECTED WAYS OF THINKING

Two studies investigated the prediction that differentiation would be used by individuals concerned with separateness, personal agency, and power whereas integration would be used by individuals concerned with relatedness, interpersonal communion, and intimacy. In Experiment 1, women who reexperienced a personal event linked to communal issues used more integration (relative to differentiation) when evaluating target persons than did men who reexperienced a personal event linked to agency. Experiment 2 demonstrated that in situations that were congruent with their motives, intimacy-motivated women and men used more integration (relative to differentiation) when evaluating target persons than did power-motivated men and women. Findings suggest that differentiation and integration may serve different and specific functions related to the concerns of individuals in particular social contexts.