diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association.rb
index c74558e50a8dc..a1519664f3951 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association.rb
@@ -211,6 +211,8 @@ def create!(attributes = nil, &block)
       end
 
       def violates_strict_loading?
+        return unless find_target?
+
         return if @skip_strict_loading
 
         return unless owner.validation_context.nil?
@@ -220,10 +222,6 @@ def violates_strict_loading?
         owner.strict_loading? && !owner.strict_loading_n_plus_one_only?
       end
 
-      def find_target?
-        !loaded? && (!owner.new_record? || foreign_key_present?) && klass
-      end
-
       private
         # Reader and writer methods call this so that consistent errors are presented
         # when the association target class does not exist.
@@ -291,6 +289,10 @@ def scope_for_create
           scope.scope_for_create
         end
 
+        def find_target?
+          !loaded? && (!owner.new_record? || foreign_key_present?) && klass
+        end
+
         # Returns true if there is a foreign key present on the owner which
         # references the target. This is used to determine whether we can load
         # the target if the owner is currently a new record (and therefore
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/calculations.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/calculations.rb
index f38feb38844b4..e1ac43dfc5a16 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/calculations.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/calculations.rb
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ def calculate(operation, column_name)
     #
     # See also #ids.
     def pluck(*column_names)
-      if respond_to?(:proxy_association) && proxy_association.violates_strict_loading? && proxy_association.find_target?
+      if respond_to?(:proxy_association) && proxy_association.violates_strict_loading?
         Base.strict_loading_violation!(owner: proxy_association.owner.class, reflection: proxy_association.reflection)
       end