Mood changes, physiological responses, and self-statements during social rejection imagery

Social exclusion evokes different psychophysiological responses in individuals high on the psychopathy facets fearless dominance and self-centered impulsivity

Individuals with psychopathic personality traits are generally thought to have difficulties in processing and experiencing emotions. These difficulties could also translate to emotionally charged social situations such as social exclusion. Being socially excluded is often experienced as stressful and unpleasant, potentially even leading to selfish or aggressive behavior-both of which are linked to certain aspects of psychopathy. The current study investigated self-report and physiological responses to social exclusion in the cyberball paradigm in a carefully selected community sample of individuals either scoring high on primary (N = 24) or secondary psychopathy traits (N = 17). Across the sample, the cyberball paradigm decreased experiences of joy and approach motivation, increased subjective anger reports, and induced changes in heart rate. In contrast, individuals scoring high on secondary psychopathy traits (Self-Centered Impulsivity group) displayed stronger physiological reactivity during a habituation phase of prolonged social exclusion than individuals scoring high on primary psychopathy traits (Fearless Dominance group), indexed by changes in skin conductance level. Moreover, a potential mismatch between self-reported and physiological arousal seemed to be only observable in individuals with high secondary psychopathy traits. Overall, the current results suggest diverging patterns of emotional processing and regulation in a social exclusion situation when comparing well-functioning individuals with varying psychopathy traits. It seemed as if individuals high on primary psychopathy traits were insensitive to contextual social cues, while individuals high on secondary psychopathy traits were more affected by the potentially threatening social situation. Cautiously transferring the current findings to forensic samples, they support the idea of moving from a behavioral understanding of the psychopathy construct to a more clinical picture with distinct cognitive and emotional processing patterns in individuals high on either primary or secondary psychopathy traits.

Does Being Ignored on WhatsApp Hurt? A Pilot Study on the Effect of a Newly Developed Ostracism Task for Adolescents

(1) Background: Many studies have used a well-known social exclusion task, namely Cyberball, to assess the psychophysiological reactions to ostracism in laboratory settings. However, this task has been recently criticized for its lack of realism. Instant messaging communication platforms are currently central communication channels where adolescents conduct their social life. These should be considered when recreating the emotional experiences that fuel the development of negative emotions. To overcome this limitation, a new ostracism task, namely SOLO (Simulated On-Line Ostracism), recreating hostile interactions (i.e., exclusion and rejection) over WhatsApp was developed. The aim of this manuscript is to compare adolescents' self-reported negative and positive affect, as well as physiological reactivity (i.e., heat rate, HR; heart rate variability, HRV) exhibited during SOLO to Cyberball. (2) Method: A total of 35 participants (Mage = 15.16; SD = 1.48; 24 females) took part in the study. The first group (n = 23; transdiagnostic group), recruited at an inpatient and outpatient unit of a clinic for children and adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychosomatic therapy in Baden-Württemberg (Germany), reported clinical diagnoses linked with emotional dysregulation (e.g., self-injury and depression). The second group (n = 12; control group), recruited in the district of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, had no pre-existing clinical diagnoses. (3) Results: The transdiagnostic group showed higher HR (b = 4.62, p < 0.05) and lower HRV (b = 10.20, p < 0.01) in SOLO than in Cyberball. They also reported increased negative affect (interaction b = -0.5, p < 0.01) after SOLO but not after Cyberball. In the control group, no differences in either HR (p = 0.34) or HRV (p = 0.08) between tasks were found. In addition, no difference in negative affect after either task (p = 0.83) was found. (4) Conclusion: SOLO could be an ecologically valid alternative to Cyberball when assessing reactions to ostracism in adolescents with emotional dysregulation.

Workplace ostracism and family social support: a moderated mediation model of personal reputation

Work and family are important life domains. This study investigates the relationship between employees’ perceptions of workplace ostracism and their provision of family social support. Integrating social impact theory and self-verification theory, the study provides a novel theoretical framework for examining the influence of workplace ostracism on employees’ provision of family social support. Using a moderated mediation model, it reveals the mediating role of personal reputation and the moderating roles of job social support and perceived organizational support. The results of two three-wave surveys of married employees and their spouses in China demonstrate that the negative relationship between exposure to workplace ostracism and an employee’s provision of family social support is mediated by the employee’s personal reputation. In addition, job social support and perceived organizational support weaken the relationship between personal reputation and family social support and the mediating effect of personal reputation on the relationship between workplace ostracism and family social support. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study for human resource management are discussed.

Outcasts and saboteurs: Intervention strategies to reduce the negative effects of social exclusion on team outcomes

The experience of social exclusion in the workplace adversely impacts employees’ well-being, job satisfaction, and productivity, and no one quite knows what to do about it. In this report, we describe the development and testing of three ostracism interventions, designed to help people cope with the negative effects of being excluded by one’s team. Across five studies, participants were assigned to a virtual ball toss game where they were either included or excluded by their teammates. Afterwards, they were given a task where they could earn money for themselves, for their entire team, or for an unrelated group (charity). Excluded participants worked less hard for their teams (even when this meant sacrificing their own earnings). This sabotage effect was specific, meaning that excluded individuals worked less hard on behalf of their teams, but not when they worked for themselves or for charity. We devised three intervention strategies—perspective, mentorship, and empowerment—to combat the negative effects of ostracism on people’s willingness to work for their teams. These interventions were successful; each increased people’s persistence in a team-based reward task, and in some cases, even raised the outcomes of excluded teammates to levels observed in included teammates. The effectiveness of these interventions also replicated successfully, using preregistered hypotheses, methods, and analyses. These studies add novel insights to a variety of fields that have examined the consequences of social exclusion, including social psychology, organizational behavior, and management science.

Social Ostracism by Coworkers: Does Rejection Lead to Loafing or Compensation?

A new theoretical model and research paradigm are introduced to investigate the phenomenon of social ostracism-being ignored by others who are in one's presence. The authors examined the effects of social ostracism on individuals' subsequent contributions to a group task. Social loafing Optically occurs on collective tasks. However; to regain their sense of belonging to the group, the authors expected ostracized individuals to socially compensate-to work harder collectively than coactively. Participants were asked to generate as many uses as they could for an object, either coactively or collectively with two others who had either ostracized or included them in an earlier ball-tossing exchange. Ostracized females socially compensated, whereas nonostracized females neither loafed nor compensated. Ostracized and nonostracized males socially loafed. Based on these data and the accompanying attributional and nonverbal analyses, the authors surmised that males and females interpret and respond to social ostracism differently.

Personality Moderators of Reactions to Interpersonal Rejection: Depression and Trait Self-Esteem

Two experiments were conducted to examine the moderating effects of depression and trait self-esteem on reactions to social exclusion. Participants received information indicating that they had been included in or excluded from a laboratory group and that their inclusion or exclusion was based either on the other group members' preferences or on a random procedure. Participants who scored high in depression (Experiment 1) and low in self-esteem (Experiment 2) responded more strongly (and logically) to the experimental manipulations than participants low in depression and high in self-esteem. The results suggested that depression and low self-esteem place people at risk for dysphoria and self-devaluation following interpersonal rejection.

The ordinal effects of ostracism: a meta-analysis of 120 Cyberball studies

We examined 120 Cyberball studies (N = 11,869) to determine the effect size of ostracism and conditions under which the effect may be reversed, eliminated, or small. Our analyses showed that (1) the average ostracism effect is large (d > |1.4|) and (2) generalizes across structural aspects (number of players, ostracism duration, number of tosses, type of needs scale), sampling aspects (gender, age, country), and types of dependent measure (interpersonal, intrapersonal, fundamental needs). Further, we test Williams's (2009) proposition that the immediate impact of ostracism is resistant to moderation, but that moderation is more likely to be observed in delayed measures. Our findings suggest that (3) both first and last measures are susceptible to moderation and (4) time passed since being ostracized does not predict effect sizes of the last measure. Thus, support for this proposition is tenuous and we suggest modifications to the temporal need-threat model of ostracism.

Lack of behavioral imitation in human interactions enhances salivary cortisol levels

As inherently social animals, humans are very sensitive to behavioral signals from other members of their group. Nonconscious imitation of conspecifics' behavior (also called social mirroring) is a common manner in which people express their sense of similarity and affiliation with others. This evolutionary important behavioral repertoire has been referred to as 'social glue' as it cultivates pro-social behaviors that foster one's acceptance by the group as well as sustain societal unity. Lack of behavior imitation therefore serves a subtle cue signaling rejection by others. Because being rejected is a stressful experience that is known to raise cortisol levels in humans and other primates such as baboons, we reasoned that not being imitated by another person during an interpersonal interaction may enhance cortisol levels as an acute physiological stress reaction to the behavioral rejection signal by their conspecifics. In the present study, female participants were unobtrusively imitated or not imitated by another person. None of the participants indicated awareness of (not) being imitated. The salivary cortisol concentrations of not imitated participants did not differ from those of the imitated participants on a baseline measurement, but they increased considerably after the interaction, whereas the cortisol level of imitated participants remained stationary. This stressful consequence of a lack of behavioral imitation was mediated by self-reported need to belong. These findings provide new insights into the impact of a lack of behavioral imitation on the receiver's hormonal secretion and its functionality in social interactions.

Rejection Elicits Emotional Reactions but Neither Causes Immediate Distress nor Lowers Self-Esteem: A Meta-Analytic Review of 192 Studies on Social Exclusion

Competing predictions about the effect of social exclusion were tested by meta-analyzing findings from studies of interpersonal rejection, ostracism, and similar procedures. Rejection appears to cause a significant shift toward a more negative emotional state. Typically, however, the result was an emotionally neutral state marked by low levels of both positive and negative affect. Acceptance caused a slight increase in positive mood and a moderate increase in self-esteem. Self-esteem among rejected persons was no different from neutral controls. These findings are discussed in terms of belongingness motivation, sociometer theory, affective numbing, and self-esteem defenses.

Ostracism

In this review, I examine the social psychological research on ostracism, social exclusion, and rejection. Being ignored, excluded, and/or rejected signals a threat for which reflexive detection in the form of pain and distress is adaptive for survival. Brief ostracism episodes result in sadness and anger and threaten fundamental needs. Individuals then act to fortify or replenish their thwarted need or needs. Behavioral consequences appear to be split into two general categories: attempts to fortify relational needs (belonging, self-esteem, shared understanding, and trust), which lead generally to prosocial thoughts and behaviors, or attempts to fortify efficacy/existence needs of control and recognition that may be dealt with most efficiently through antisocial thoughts and behaviors. Available research on chronic exposure to ostracism appears to deplete coping resources, resulting in depression and helplessness.

Negative feedback, beliefs and personal goals in prediction of dysfunctional emotions

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) demonstrates good results in evaluation therapy researches. However, some of its basic concepts, as well as theory as a whole itself, did not receive satisfactory empirical support so far, in comparison to other cognitive models (Beck, Lazarus etc.). Quasiexperimental study was designed to test the role that (1) negative feedback (A) and (2) irrational beliefs (B) both play in formation of dysfunctional negative emotions, in the context of significant personal goals (in our case value of potential award - G). ABC theoretical model received limited support: statistically significant three-times interaction A x B x G was found in predicting general negative emotional state, as well as anger. In contrast with that, ANOVA showed only main effect of irrational beliefs (as continuous variable) to be significant in predicting emotions of anxiety and depression. Findings are discussed in the context of REBT theory of emotions, as well as their possible practical applications. Limitations of the study were also mentioned. .

The Irrational Beliefs Test: its relationship with cognitive-behavioral traits and depression

A number of theorists have maintained that cognitive events such as irrational beliefs mediate various affective and behavioral disorders. Jones' (1968) Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) is a prominent self-report instrument that assesses dispositional rationality-irrationality with respect to 10 beliefs proposed by Ellis. The present study with a nonclinical sample of female college students (N = 114) evaluated the relationships among the IBT, locus of control, cognitive set for success and failure, interpersonal assertion, and depression. As predicted, irrationality on the IBT and on several of its specific-belief components was related significantly to externality, negative cognitive set, unassertiveness, and self-reported depressive symptomatology. Multiple regression analyses indicated that locus of control, irrationality, and cognitive set predicted assertion and that locus of control and irrationality predicted depression.