People have three basic wants that make them susceptible to social influence.

  1. First, people have a hedonic motive, or a desire to experience pleasure and avoid pain.
  2. Second, people have an approval motive, or a desire to be accepted and to avoid being rejected.
  3. Third, people have an accuracy motive, or a desire to believe what is true and to avoid believing what is false.

As we shall see, most forms of social influence appeal to one or more of these motives.

Psychology
Page 16-22
By Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner

 


 

See also, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, on this blog.