AIM Framework glossary
Template
Canonical definition
Template is a cognitively available category for social inference (a schema that an Individual can deploy when interpreting others' behaviour, Beliefs, or motivations) which becomes available through self-model inversion (contrast categories) activation-priming (guilt, Salience, recent use), and which is deployed with varying thresholds depending on its current activation level.
Explanation
Templates are not neutral descriptive categories but inferential tools with varying accessibility. An Individual does not consider all possible explanations for others' behaviour and select the best fit; rather, they deploy available templates, those currently activated and cognitively cheap to apply. Template availability explains why the same behaviour may be interpreted differently by different observers: each observer deploys the templates that are most accessible to them, which depend on their self-model, recent experiences, emotional state. Templates deployed with low evidential threshold, requiring minimal behavioural evidence before application, produce systematic attribution patterns that may not reflect the target's actual motivationsvernacular: self-model inversion generates contrast categories automatically, and guilt-priming elevates activation of guilt-connected templates, making them deploy readily regardless of whether they accurately describe either self or other.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct, integrating cognitive schema theory with AIM architecture.
Derivation
Chapter 11, Section 11.7; Chapter 11, Section 11.8; Chapter 11, Section 11.9.