Atimia: A New Paradigm for Investigating How Individuals Feel When Ostracizing Others

ABSTRACT

To date, researchers studying ostracism (being excluded and ignored) focused on examining the consequences of ostracism. However, researchers have not yet systematically investigated why individuals ostracize others. One impediment to this research is lacking multiple means to successfully induce individuals to be sources, those who ostracize others. Using Cyberball, researchers found participants ostracized a player delaying the game. To aid in systematic research on sources, we developed the game Atimia. In Atimia, players took turns solving remote associate word items and we varied the performance of a computer-controlled player to perform equal to or significantly worse than the group. Without prompting, participants ostracized a poor- versus equal-performing player more and found the poor-performing player burdensome, less likable, and less desirable to work with on a future task. Study outcomes suggest Atimia is a viable paradigm for investigating sources of ostracism.

Keywords:

• burden
• exclusion
• motives
• ostracism
• rejection
• sources of ostracism

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Researchers can request the Atimia program, without any cost, or ask any questions by contacting James H. Wirth at wirth.E-mail: [email protected]. We would like to thank Paul Turchan for his input on this research.

Notes

1. The name for the game, Atimia, is derived from the ancient Greek practice of atimia, which was the penalization of the atimos, individuals who were in debt to the city of Athens (Allen, 2000).

2. The original experiment design included an additional between-participants manipulation where we manipulated whether players could freely choose which player would go next or the computer assigned what player would go next in a round-robin format. There were no significant interactions with this factor, so we focused on the performance manipulation and omitted participants in the round-robin conditions.

3. We calculated separate Spearman-Brown coefficients for the target (Pat) and nontarget group players (Alex).

4. For each of the scales, we created a separate Cronbach’s alpha for questions about Pat and Alex.

5. Confidence intervals are calculated based on mean differences between conditions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James H. Wirth

James H. Wirth s an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at The Ohio State University at Newark.

Michael J. Bernstein

Michael J. Bernstein is an Associate Professor in the Psychological and Social Science Program at Penn State University–Abington.

Angie S. LeRoy

Angie S. LeRoy is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston.