The Impact of Social Exclusion on Prosocial Conformity: The Roles of Group Pressure and Basic Needs

The occurrence of prosocial conformity after social exclusion remains a subject of discussion. This study explores the boundary conditions for its occurrence within the framework of the Need Threat Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Drawing on the get acquainted paradigm, the study utilized facial stimuli with varying trustworthiness to examine the role of group pressure and basic needs through two behavioral study. The results indicate: (1) Group pressure is a boundary condition for the occurrence of prosocial conformity after social exclusion. Compared to low group pressure, social exclusion leads to greater prosocial conformity under high group pressure. (2) Group pressure leads to different results in prosocial conformity after social exclusion by influencing different types of basic needs. Specifically, group pressure enhances the facilitating effect of relational need threat on prosocial conformity, while inhibiting the increase in anti-conformity after efficacy need threat. The study confirms that group pressure increases the probability of prosocial conformity by influencing the threat to basic needs.