Social Exclusion Increases Susceptibility to Persuasion Strategies That Appeal to the Need to Belong

• In Event: Persuasion II: Message Features

Abstract

Two experiments tested whether social exclusion increases people's susceptibility to persuasion strategies that appeal to the need to belong. Socially excluded (vs. socially accepted) participants appeared to be more vulnerable to persuasion by advertisements using social proof tactics, arguably because they were on the hunt for social connection. Indeed, tactics that did not connote social connection (e.g., expert endorsement) were moot. The present work reveals how one of humans’ most fundamental motivations, the need to affiliate, influences people's vulnerability to persuasive communication, thereby contributing to a growing body of knowledge on social motivations driving consumer behavior.

Authors

• Loes Janssen, Radboud U

• Ilja van Beest, Tilburg U

• Nicole L Mead, Erasmus U Rotterdam