Previous research has demonstrated that ostracism (to be excluded and ignored) leads to detrimental effects on four human needs (belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence; Williams, 2001). These detrimental effects, however, may be more pronounced, or more prolonged, in particular individuals (see Williams & Zadro, 2001). In the present study, we examined the persistence of the detrimental effects of ostracism in high and low socially anxious participants. The results show that being ostracized affected both groups at the immediate test, and that the high socially anxious participants recovered their primary needs more slowly. The results also show that being ostracized affects personality/attractiveness ratings of sources of ostracism, and increases the likelihood of interpreting ambiguous situations in a threatening manner. Overall, the study illustrates that a comprehensive understanding of ostracism, and the effects of moderating factors such as social anxiety, requires assessing the effects across time rather than only focusing on immediate reactions.
In our day-to-day lives, ostracism (the act of being excluded and ignored; Williams, 2001) exists in many guises, ranging from socially sanctioned forms of ostracism used by institutions (e.g., solitary confinement, exile, and banishment), to more subtle signs of silence and rejection used in interpersonal relationships (e.g., withdrawal of eye contact, no response to greeting; Williams & Zadro, 2001). The response to ostracism can also vary—ranging from increased pro-social behavior (in order to re-connect; Williams, 2001) to increased aggression (e.g., the Columbine shootings; Leary, Kowalski, Smith, & Phillips, 2003). The complexity of ostracism, with its multiplicity of forms and potential effects on targets (i.e., those who are ostracized), is captured in Williams, 1997 and Williams, 2001 theoretical model. The core of this model is the assertion that being ostracized poses a threat to four fundamental human needs: belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. This assertion has been supported by a series of laboratory studies showing that just 5-min of ostracism, either face-to-face or over the Internet, reduced targets’ feelings of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence compared to subjects who were socially included (for review, see Williams, 2001).
Although we may all experience a threat to our primary needs after ostracism, there are undoubtedly some individuals who are more sensitive or susceptible to the effects of being excluded and ignored. This sensitivity to ostracism may manifest in two ways. First, these individuals may have a reduced threshold to all forms of ostracism—that is, they may perceive rejection and exclusion to be present in social situations, even if these situations are in fact benign (see Downey & Romero-Canyas, 2005). Second, for these individuals, the effects of ostracism may be more persistent, that is, the effects of ostracism on their primary needs may continue over a longer period of time than those who are less sensitive or susceptible to the effects of ostracism.
One particular group that may be a candidate for such pronounced or prolonged effects of ostracism are the socially anxious. Social anxiety is directly related to a fear of social rejection (of which ostracism is a form). Clark and Wells’s (1995) cognitive model of social phobia implicates the fear of negative evaluation and (negative) self-focused attention as its core components. This model suggests that socially anxious individuals typically encode more threatening cues during social interactions, and hence are likely to interpret mild or ambiguous forms of exclusion as threatening. Thus, the impact of ostracism may be larger in socially anxious people than in non-anxious individuals. Additionally, the Clark and Wells model asserts that post-event processing may exacerbate social anxiety because socially anxious people are liable to ruminate about their performance during social interactions. In the context of ostracism therefore, socially anxious participants would be more likely to conduct a post-mortem of the event and ruminate about their role in causing the ostracism than non-anxious participants. This would then lead to the effects of ostracism persisting in socially anxious participants.
Despite the relation between ostracism and social anxiety, the role of social anxiety as a moderator of the effects of ostracism has not been examined to date. Thus, in the present study we examined whether social anxiety moderated the effects of ostracism on primary needs. Unlike previous studies that have investigated the moderating effect of individual differences on the effect of ostracism (see Williams & Zadro, 2005), the present study examined the moderating influence of social anxiety not only on the immediate effects of ostracism (on the primary needs), but also on the delayed effects of ostracism (i.e., after 45-min). By introducing a delay, it was possible to assess the persistence of the effects of ostracism. In addition to the four primary needs, the present study also examined the moderating influence of social anxiety on several constructs that may be adversely affected by ostracism, specifically, social perception (i.e., judgments of the personality and physical attractiveness of sources of ostracism; see Williams et al., 2002), cognitive processes (i.e., memory for faces), and interpretation of ambiguous situations (that may be perceived as socially or physically threatening).
