Threat and opportunity: the impact of social inclusion and feedback recipient likeability on feedback, self-esteem and belonging

The need to belong is a basic psychological need and an important motivator of behaviour (Gere & MacDonald, 2010). When individuals are looking for opportunities to connect to others, they are most attracted to likeable people to satisfy their belonging and increase their self-worth (Brown, 1993; Leary, 2005). Social exclusion studies show that individuals are reluctant to perform behaviours that may cause rejection from others (Leary & Baumeister, 2000). A large volume of work has demonstrated that individuals are reluctant to communicate negative feedback and will modify feedback to make it appear less negative (e.g. Jeffries & Hornsey, 2012). The aim of this study was to investigate how feedback recipient likeability impacts on the belonging needs and self-esteem of an individual providing negative feedback. Participants were asked to recall and record a previous experience of social inclusion, or social exclusion, or the food they had eaten in the last 48 hours. They were then asked to evaluate a book review supposedly written by a fellow student and give negative feedback anonymously. This research used a 3 x 2 between group design to investigate social exclusion (inclusion vs exclusion vs control) and feedback recipient likeability (high vs low). Results showed that feedback was not positively modified regardless of feedback likeability. Results also showed that individuals who recalled social exclusion experienced decreased levels of belonging and self-esteem after delivery of negative feedback to a highly likeable individual but had increased levels of belonging and self-esteem after delivery of negative feedback to a less likeable individual. Further analyses showed a three-way interaction between social inclusion and feedback recipient likeability on changes in both belonging and self-esteem after delivery of feedback. These research findings were able to provide a sharper focus on the impact of belonging and self-esteem as a function of likeability, as well as supporting previous research on how anonymity helps alleviate social acceptance concerns thus avoiding modified feedback