When inclusion costs and ostracism pays, ostracism still hurts.

Abstract

Recent research indicates that ostracism is painful even in the face of mitigating circumstances. However, in all previous experiments, there have been no costs to inclusion or benefits for ostracism. If being included meant losing money and being ostracized meant retaining money, would individuals still be distressed when ostracized? In 2 studies, the authors attempted to "load the dice" against inclusion in favor of ostracism. Participants played a variant of Cyberball called euroyberball (pronounced Euroball), in which ostracism and inclusion were crossed with whether the participants earned or lost money for each ball toss they received. In 2 experiments, the authors found that even when being ostracized meant retaining more money than the other players, it was painful. In Study 2, the authors also introduced conditions in which participants were overincluded. In these conditions, participants were sensitive to financial incentives. However, even then participants felt worse when given no positive attention than when given punitive attention.

Promoting social behavior with oxytocin in high-functioning autism spectrum disorders

“…Also in this case, oxytocin enhanced the propensity to interact with the reciprocating partner, as compared to placebo. This is in keeping with results obtained in a similar social task showing that normal subjects preferred to avoid being excluded from the game even when, as a consequence, they ended up losing money (27).…”

An Unclear Self Leads to Poor Mental Health: Self-Concept Confusion Mediates the Association of Loneliness with Depression

“…When people feel socially excluded, their self-concept confusion may undermine their personal standards that normally motivate people to regulate their impulses (Baumeister et al, 2005;Oaten, Williams, Jones, & Zadro, 2008), to avoid selfish and self-defeating behaviors (Twenge et al, 2002;Van Beest & Williams, 2006), and to override their aggressive urges (DeWall, Twenge, Gitter, & Baumeister, 2009;Warburton, Williams, & Cairns, 2006;Wesselman, Butler, Williams, & Pickett, 2010). Self-concept confusion may also have implications for understanding the relationships between social exclusion and negative behavioral outcomes such as those listed above.…”

Design, development and validation of a workplace cyberbullying measure, the WCM

“…Critics of the self-report methodology state that participants may respond in a socially desirable manner rather than in the way that best reflects their experiences and opinions. Therefore some individuals may have underreported their exposed to cyberbullying as acknowledgement of victimisation could prompt feelings of vulnerability (van Beest & Williams, 2006). Attempts were made to reduce the risk of common method bias as the anonymous treatment of study results was outlined and participants were clearly advised that they could withdraw from the research at any time (Conway & Lance, 2010).…”