I'm all ears: The need to belong motivates listening to emotional disclosure

• Belonging motivates listening to emotional, but not descriptive, disclosure.
• As belonging increased, so did the desire to listen to emotional disclosure.
• However it did not increase the desire listen to descriptive disclosure.
• These effects were not related to the listener's mood or self-esteem.

People regularly disclose their emotions with friends. But why do people listen to their friends' emotional disclosures? In this investigation, we tested the belongingness hypothesis — which is that the need to belong motivates people to listen to their friends disclose emotional, but not descriptive, information. Study 1 reveals that the need to belong is associated with wanting to listen to friends' emotional, but not descriptive, self-disclosures. Studies 2 and 3 manipulate the need to belong via two different mechanisms. They reveal that increased belonging needs, and not differences in mood and self-esteem, were associated with an increased desire to listen to friends disclose emotional, but not descriptive, information. This research provides new insights into the self-disclosure process, by illustrating a potential process that encourages people to listen to their friends.