The self-esteem motive in social influence: agreement with valued majorities and disagreement with derogated minorities.
This research provides evidence for the role of self-esteem in social influence; it demonstrates that the positions taken by self-relevant social groups can threaten people's self-esteem. Participants who wished to align themselves with a majority group and who learned that the group held a counterattitudinal position suffered a reduction in self-esteem. Similarly, participants who wished to differentiate themselves from a derogated minority group and who learned that the group held attitudes similar to theirs experienced reduced self-esteem. Group attitudes, however, did not affect the self-esteem of participants who were indifferent to the group. In addition, this study demonstrates that self-relevant motivations direct the way people process influence appeals. Participants adopted interpretations of the issues that allowed them to align themselves with valued majorities and differentiate themselves from derogated minorities.
Pool
G J
GJ
Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, USA. gpool@uta.edu
Wood
W
W
Leck
K
K
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D009042:Motivation; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D012925:Social Conformity; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values