ABSTRACT
Belongingness is an innate and fundamental human motivation that pervades human behavior (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). As social and cultural animals, we evolved to live in small groups and to rely on others to help us meet our basic biological needs (Baumeister, this volume). Being rejected by one's group may have been tantamount to death throughout most of history and prehistory. Proto-humans who evolved a strong need to belong probably survived better than similar creatures without this motivation, because is would have been very difficult to meet basic needs for food and shelter without the help of other group members (see Leary, this volume).
