اثرات طولانی طرد شدگی در شناخت و برآوردن نیازهای اولیه

Ostracism negatively affects fundamental needs and may impair some cognitive functions. The present study examined: (1) the duration of ostracism’s negative effects on fundamental needs, and (2) its associated effects on higher-order cognitive abilities. Participants were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized on Cyberball, and completed three assessments of fundamental needs over the course of 45–55 min, as well as measures of working memory, decision making, and task persistence. Results indicated significant decreases in fundamental needs immediately following ostracism and the persistence of these effects past the reflexive stage. Additionally, ostracism impaired working memory, decision making, and task persistence (but not basic attention). These results suggest that the negative effects of ostracism can last longer than a few minutes and affect executive functions, suggesting the need to examine downstream consequences of ostracism.

Humans are social beings and have a fundamental need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). The negative effects of being ostracized are pervasive, indicating social inclusion is necessary for healthy psychological functioning (Williams, 2007). Much research has investigated how the experience of being ignored and excluded (i.e., ostracism; Williams et al., 2000 and Williams and Nida, 2011) negatively affects emotional and mental health. However, few have assessed the temporal stability of these effects on basic needs and executive functions, which are the higher-order cognitive abilities associated with frontal lobe functioning (Lezak, Howieson, & Loring, 2004). The present study sought to examine the duration of the effects of a single ostracism event on these factors.

There were no differences between groups in age, t(60) = 0.70, p = .49; or gender, χ2(1, N = 64) = 0.33, p = .57. Immediately following the Cyberball task, individuals in the ostracism condition reported lower levels of Belonging (Cohen’s d = −2.14), Self-Esteem (Cohen’s d = −0.77), Control (Cohen’s d = −1.53), and Meaningful Existence (Cohen’s d = −1.39) than individuals in the inclusion condition (see Table 1).