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ABSTRACT
Most of the focus within the ostracism literature concerns the negative effects on the ostracized and how they cope following ostracism. Research is now beginning to illuminate negative psychological effects for ostracizers, yet no studies to date have examined their coping responses. This study continues this line of inquiry focusing on experiences of going along with ostracism, both by employing a face-to-face interaction and by exploring prosocial versus antisocial coping reactions in ostracizers. Results reveal that compared to those in a neutral condition, compliant ostracizers suffered because ostracizing someone else frustrated their psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness. Further, when given the chance, ostracizers were more inclusive of the person they previously ostracized. Discussion considers important avenues for future research as well as implications of results.
Notes
1. There is a debate about the use of the terms ostracism, exclusion, and rejection, and throughout this paper we only use the term ostracism for parsimony. The definition of ostracism in Williams (Citation2007a) is most consistent with the phenomenon we are studying here.
2. Because tests of mediation cannot determine causality, we explored two alternative models, which can be found on the study’s OSF page (https://osf.io/z82hm/).
3. To see additional post hoc tests of mediation we ran, please see the OSF page, https://osf.io/z82hm/
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nicole Legate
Nicole Legate is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Cody DeHaan
Cody DeHaan is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology at the University of Rochester.
Richard Ryan
Richard Ryan is a Professor in the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University.