Hayal Yavuz, Yasemin Abayhan, Savaş Ceylan, Deniz Şahin, Orhan Aydın, Alp Giray Kaya,

Gonca ÇiffilizHacettepe University, Department of

PsychologySocial Psychology Laboratory

This research benefited from a grant from TUBITAK, project no. 109K094

Ostracism, refers to being ignored, excluded and/or rejected by other individuals or groups independent of offering a justification or being a target of negative reactions (Williams, 2007).

Because of the social nature of human, lack of social contact is stressful for human beings.

Research had shown that ostracism evokes a variety of negative emotions such as sadness, anger and hostility as well as the experience of social pain (Chow, Tiedens & Govan,2008; DeWall et al., 2009; Eisenberger, Lieberman & Willams, 2003; Twenge et al., 2007).

Chow, R.M., Tiedens, L.Z., & Govan, C. (2008). Excluded feelings: Emotional responses to social ostracism predict aggressive reactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 896-903.

DeWall, C.N., Twenge, J.M., Gitter, S.A.,& Baumeister, R.F. (2009). It’s the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 45-59.

Eisenberger, N.I., Lieberman, M.D., & Williams, K.D. (2003). Does rejection hurt: An Fmrı study of social exclusion. Science, 302, 290-292.

Twenge, J.M., Baumeister, R.F., DeWall, N.C., Ciarocco, N.J., Bartels, M.J. (2007). Social exclusion decreases prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 56-66.

Williams, K.D. (2007). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 425-452

According to Need Threat Model (Williams, 1997); ostracism threatenes four fundamental needs;-self-esteem, -belongingness, -perceived control -meaningful existence

Therefore, individuals act to fortify or replenish their thwarted needs by antisocial behaviors such as aggression, bullying, counter productive actions and violent acts or prosocial behaviors like cooperation, helping and organizational citizenship (Twenge, 2005; Williams, 2007).

Twenge, J.M. (2005). When does social rejection lead to aggression? The influence of situations, narcissicm, emotion, and replenishing connections. In K.D. Williams, J.P. Forgas, & W.von Hippel (Eds.). The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection and bulyyinu. (pp.201-212). New York: Psychology Press.

Williams, K.D. (1997). Social ostracism. R.M. Kowalski (Ed.), Aversive interpersonal behaviors içinde (s. 133-170). New York: Plenum.

Williams, K.D. (2007). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 425-452

 

The current study investigates the behavioral and emotional responses of ostracized people according to their self reports and their retaliation or helping behaviors by using both Cyberball and Brainstorming Paradigm.

Participants-49 volunteer students;

Therefore; 36 participants (18 m; 18 f)-In brainstorming session, participants accompanied by three

confederates. Confederates were instructed about how to behave in a week long training.

7 of them Guessed the purpose of the study

5 of them Didn’t understand the manipulation

1 of them Knows our confederates personally

Dependent Variables- Behavioral responses of participants (scored by

judges on observational form; 36 possible behaviors were listed on the form such as “reminds the rules of brainstorming to the ostracizer” or “stop writing” etc.)

- Emotional responses (self-report- Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

- Need threats (self report- Need Threat Scale, Van Beest & Williams, 2006).

Procedure- 2 disjoint studiesa) Cover story of

Cyberball: Participants were told that the goals of the research were to understand mental visualization and they would play an online game of toss with three other participants.

b) Cyberball: The cyberball paradigm used in this study for ostracize the participants.

c) Cover story of Brainstorming:

-Brainstorming sessions for generating ideas.

-4 different people from Hacettepe University.

-Brainstorming rules.d) Brainstorming: -Ostracize one of the

confederates.-Confederate try to speak

with them and complain about the situation.

Manipulation Checks of the Studya) Manipulation Checks of Cyberball:

Conditions

What percentage of throws do you think you received during the Cyberball game?

Ostracism Inclusion

F(1, 35)= 34.52, p <.0001, ² = .51 9.17 (3.03) 34.71 (3.12)

b) Manipulation Checks of Brainstorming: Debriefing questions

Effects of ostrasicm on dependent variablesa) Effects of ostrasicm on emotional responses:- Cronbach alpha coefficients for both positive and

negative emotions.

There were no significant main effects of ostracism on

both negative and positive emotions, F (1, 36) = .73, p>.05, ² = .08.

Emotion type Cronbach Alpha Coefficients

Positive Emotions .63

Negative Emotions .85

b) Effects of ostrasicm on need threat scale: -Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for each need;

There were no significant main effects of ostracism on

need threats, F(1, 36) = .91, p> .05, ² = .10.

Need Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient

Belonging .69

Control .60

Self-esteem .81

Meaningful Existence .79

Effects of ostrasicm on behavioral responses:

Behavior Mean Rank ZOstracism Control

Ignores the ostracizer

16,45 20,79 -1.91*

Approves the ostracized’s complaints by nodding

21,53 15,12 -2,28**

Bending his/her head

15,89 21,41 -2.09**

Shows the paper to the ostracizer by pen or finger

22,26 14,29 -2.62****p < .06; **p < .05; ***p < .01

According to ostracism literature being ostracized had an effect on emotional responses and four fundamental needs (Smith & Williams, 2004;Williams, Cheung & Choi, 2000; Zadro, Williams & Richardson, 2004,).

The current study suggests that being ostracized doesn’t change the participants emotional responses and doesn’t threat their four fundamental needs.

Smith, A., & Williams, K. D. (2004). R U There? Effects of ostracism by cell phone messages. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 8, 291-301.

Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W. (2000).CyberOstracism: Effects of being ignored over the Internet.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 748-762.

Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R. (2004). How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer lowersbelonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40,560-567.

The participants who are ostracized in cyberball sessions are much more sensitive to the cues of ostracism.

Therefore they try to ignore the ostracizer lessfrequently than the participants in the control condition and even emphatize the ostracized confederates by approving their complains.

They are actively try to intervene the situation by points the paper to the ostracizer by pen or finger.

Limitations: We need to collect data on no-ostracism brainstorming sessions. And some of our measures may need to be revised due to cronbach alpha’s coefficients lower than .70.