The impact of social categorization on persuasion attempts

In the current research, the precise impact of persuasion attempts from out-group members is examined. Based on different streams of research, both a relatively smaller persuasive effect of out-group members and a differentiation away from the out-group can be hypothesized. In a series of four experiments, we find convincing evidence for the differentiation expectation; persuasion attempts from out-group members led to opinions opposite from the out-group opinion, irrespective of the nature of the group categorization. Furthermore, we show that persuasion attempts from in-group members only influence attitudes when an intergroup context is made salient.