The psychological effects of ostracism following traumatic brain injury

Abstract

These results are discussed in terms of the role of the negative experience of ostracism in motivating and guiding behaviour to re-establish group membership to prevent future social isolation.

Ostracism and physiological arousal following traumatic brain injury

“…The TBI group displayed an overall similar pattern of needs fulfilment; however, only self-esteem and control remained significantly lower. This is inconsistent with the study of Kelly et al [12], where it was observed that control was not significantly affected in the TBI group whereas belonging was. Of particular significance to this study and in replication of a previous study [12], it was observed that the TBI groups' self-reported experience of ostracism was different to that of controls.…”

“…This is inconsistent with the study of Kelly et al [12], where it was observed that control was not significantly affected in the TBI group whereas belonging was. Of particular significance to this study and in replication of a previous study [12], it was observed that the TBI groups' self-reported experience of ostracism was different to that of controls. That is, the TBI group self-reported less of an overall reduction in fundamental needs from when they were included to when they were excluded, and this result appears to lie in the TBI group feeling less included in the inclusion condition.…”

“…With regard to mood effects, when examined across groups, participants were observed to experience more negative moods following ostracism and more positive moods following inclusion. In replication of a previous study [12], mood was similarly affected in both groups during each condition.…”

“…For example, they have been found to have problems in recognising emotions in others [10] and are also poor at judging what is on another's mind [an ability known as theory of mind ; 11]. Of particular relevance to the current study is the finding that people with severe TBI reported less emotional pain than a healthy control group after having been ostracised during Cyberball [12], an internet-based social exclusion paradigm [13]. This attenuated subjective response to socially salient stimuli is interesting because it is consistent with other experimental works in which people with TBI have reported muted emotional experiences in general [14] and in response to postural manipulations [15].…”

“…The Cyberball paradigm has been used extensively in previous work with both healthy controls and clinical populations including TBI [12,13,[30][31][32][33][34]. The effects of the paradigm are moderate to strong and have been demonstrated both with self-report measures and physiological and imaging measures [23,35].…”