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Within the cognitive tradition in social psychology, several models of categorization have been proposed. Each model emphasizes the emergence of a single representation of the social group (for example, the group as an entity, as a prototype, or as an exemplar). However, when defining a model of the social group, neither the individuals’ position in the social structure, nor their interactions, are systematically called into attention. The present contribution argues for the adequacy of social representations theory to uncover the antecedent conditions of the individuals’ use of various representations of the social group. Research examples will show how models of the social group which are generally considered antagonistic develop concurrently, depending on the target group to which they are applied.