Demonstrates that thinking about a given politician may result in assimilation as well as contrast effects in evolutions of the politician's party. Participants were 146 German college students in Exp 1 and 32 in Exp 2. Assimilation effects were observed when an experimental categorization task elicited the inclusion of a highly respected politician in the representation formed of his party, whereas contrast effects were observed when the categorization task elicited his exclusion from the representation, with the control group falling in between. Hence, the same information may elicit assimilation as well as contrast effects, depending on its use in mental construal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)