title: Whatever? The effect of social exclusion on adopting persuasive messages.
abstract: The aversive state of social exclusion can result in a broad range of cognitive deficits. Being unable or unmotivated to process relevant information, we assumed that social exclusion would also affect the success of persuasive attempts. We hypothesized that socially excluded people would adopt attitudes regardless of persuasion quality. In three studies using different manipulations of social exclusion and persuasion, we showed that participants who were socially excluded adopted persuasive messages regardless of argument quality. In contrast, this undifferentiated response was not shown by socially included participants who were more persuaded by high- compared to low-quality arguments. In Study 3, we moreover revealed that this pattern could only be replicated in reliable situations-that is, when the communicator appeared credible. These findings support the assumption that social exclusion can lead to reduced processing of information.
authors.affiliation: a Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pfundmair
authors.affiliation: b Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt.
authors.forename: Nilüfer
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.affiliation: a Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012919:Social Behavior; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognition; persuasion; social exclusion