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Speaking to the heart: Social exclusion and reliance on feelings versus reasons in persuasion
Author(s) -
Lu FangChi,
Sinha Jayati
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2017.03.004
Subject(s) - persuasion , feeling , rumination , psychology , distraction , social psychology , affect (linguistics) , cognition , priming (agriculture) , social exclusion , persuasive communication , information processing , cognitive psychology , botany , germination , communication , neuroscience , economics , biology , economic growth
The authors of this study identify an alternative frame of communication for persuading people who feel socially excluded to behave in ways that benefit individual and social wellbeing, regardless of future connection possibilities. The authors suggest that socially excluded (included) consumers tend to rely on affect (cognition) in processing information, and to consequently prefer persuasive messages based on feelings (reasons). The effect occurs because people tend to ruminate about exclusionary events, which depletes self‐regulatory resources. Thus, distraction that interferes with rumination can mitigate the social exclusion effect on affective processing. The authors present findings from five studies across various paradigms promoting personal and social wellbeing (i.e., donating blood, recycling, and consuming healthful foods) and discuss the theoretical and policy implications.