Abstract
The Federal Council of Switzerland is often perceived as a single entity. The aim of this paper is to compare an evaluation of the performance and likability of the Federal Council as a group with a mean evaluation of the individual members of this body. There are theories that predict different outcomes: An equal-weight averaging model predicts that the Federal Council will be evaluated equally to the mean evaluation of the members. Some unequal-weight averaging models predict that the Federal Council will be evaluated more negatively than the mean of the members because, for example, negative members could be given more weight. Other unequal-weight averaging models predict that the Federal Council will be evaluated more positively than the mean of the members as individuals. One reason is that in the domain of ability, positive information is more diagnostic than negative. Therefore, members with high abilities could be given greater weight. In two studies, the present paper provides evidence for a more positive evaluation of the Federal Council of Switzerland than the mean evaluation of its members. These studies extend the validity of previous work on individual impression formation to group evaluations.
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