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.