Abstract
Ostracism is known to cause psychological distress; however, it remains unclear why ostracism evokes this response. Two experiments tested empirically whether fear of death mediates ostracism distress (mood) and whether marital status moderates this role. A total of 345 participants played Cyberball with two other ostensible players. After the game, accessibility of death-related thoughts was assessed by a word completion task, and a mood questionnaire was used to measure their distress. Death thoughts fully mediated ostracism distress. Marital status moderated this mediation effect in that no moderation was observed in married participants, suggesting that marriage may buffer death anxiety. The discussion centers on the ways in which these findings contribute to the ostracism and terror management literature by providing empirical evidence that death thoughts mediate ostracism distress, and the moderating effects of marriage on this mediation effect.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arriaga, X. B., Capezza, N. M., Reed, J. T., Wesselmann, E. D., & Williams, K. D. (2014). With partners like you, who needs strangers? Ostracism involving a romantic partner. Personal Relationships, 21(4), 557–569. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X.
Bauman, Z. (1992). Mortality, immortality, and other life strategies. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Becker, E. (1973). The denial of death. New York: Free Press.
Birditt, K. S., Hope, S., Brown, E., & Orbuch, T. (2012). Developmental trajectories of marital happiness over 16 years. Research in Human Development, 9(2), 126–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2012.680844.
Birditt, K. S., Wan, W. H., Orbuch, T. L., & Antonucci, T. C. (2017). The development of marital tension: Implications for divorce among married couples. Developmental Psychology, 53(10), 1995–2006. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000379.
Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1, 185–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470595807075167.
Carter-Sowell, A. R., Chen, Z., & Williams, K. D. (2008). Ostracism increases social susceptibility. Social Influence, 3, 143–153.
Case, T. I., & Williams, K. D. (2004). Ostracism: A metaphor for death. In J. Greenberg, L. K. Sander & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of Experimental existential psychology (pp. 336–351). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Cicirelli, V. G. (2001). Personal meanings of death in older adults and young adults in relation to their fears of death. Death Studies, 25(8), 663–683. https://doi.org/10.1080/713769896.
Ferris, D. L., Brown, D. J., Berry, J. W., & Lian, H. (2008). The development and validation of the workplace ostracism scale. Journal of applied Psychology, 93, 1348–1366. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012743.
Florian, V., Kravetz, S., & Frankel, J. (1984). Aspects of fear of personal death, levels of awareness, and religious commitment. Journal of Research in Personality, 18(3), 289–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(84)90014-X.
Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., & Hirschberger, G. (2002). The anxiety-buffering function of close relationships: Evidence that relationship commitment acts as a terror management mechanism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 527–542. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.4.527.
Fritsche, I., Jonas, E., Fischer, P., Koranyi, N., Berger, N., & Fleischmann, B. (2007). Mortality salience and the desire for offspring. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(5), 753–762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.10.003.
Glenn, N. D. (1995). Marital quality. In D. Levinson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of marriage and the family (pp. 448–455). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Macmillian.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Simon, L., & Breus, M. (1994). Role of consciousness and the specificity to death of mortality salience effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 627–637. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.627.
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1997). Terror management theory of self-esteem and cultural worldviews: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29, pp. 61–141). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Harmon-Jones, E., Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & McGregor, H. (1997). Terror management theory and self-esteem: Evidence that increased self-esteem reduces mortality salience effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 24–36. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.1.24.
Harrawood, L. K., White, L. J., & Benshoff, J. J. (2009). Death anxiety in a national sample of United States funeral directors and its relationship with death exposure, age, and sex. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 58(2), 129–146. https://doi.org/10.2190/OM.58.2.c.
Hartgerink, C. H. J., van Beest, I., Wicherts, J. M., & Williams, K. D. (2015). The ordinal effects of ostracism: A meta-analysis of 120 cyberball studies. PLoS ONE, 10(5), Article ID e0127002. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127002.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Methodology in the social sciences. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Hayes, A. F. (2015). An index and test of linear moderated mediation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 50(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2014.962683.
James, S. L. (2015). Variation in trajectories of women’s marital quality. Social Science Research, 49, 16–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.07.010.
Lakin, J. L., & Chartrand, T. L. (2013). Behavioral mimicry as an affiliative response to social exclusion. In C. N. DeWall (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of social exclusion (pp. 266–274). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Lavner, J. A., & Bradbury, T. N. (2010). Patterns of change in marital satisfaction over the newlywed years. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 1171–1187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00757.x.
Leary, M. R., Twenge, J. M., & Quinlivan, E. (2006). Interpersonal rejection as a determinant of anger and aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 111–132. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1002_2.
McGregor, H. A., Lieberman, J. D., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Arndt, J., Simon, L., & Pyszczynski, T. (1998). Terror management and aggression: Evidence that mortality salience motivates aggression against worldview-threatening others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 590–605. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.3.590.
Miceli, M. P., & Near, J. P. (1994). Relationships among value congruence, perceived victimization, and retaliation against wristle-blowers. Journal of Management, 20, 773–794. https://doi.org/10.1016/0149-2063(94)90030-2.
Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. (2000). Exploring individual differences in reactions to mortality salience: Does attachment style regulate terror management mechanisms?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 260–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.2.260.
Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. (2008). The complex and multifaceted nature of the dear of personal death: the multidimentional model of Victor Florian. In A. Tomer, G. T. Eliason & P. T. P. Wong (Eds.), Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes (pp. 39–63). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Hirschberger, G. (2003). The existential function of close relationships: Introducing death into the science of love. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0701_2.
Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Tolmacz, R. (1990). Attachment styles and fear of personal death: A case study of affect regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 273–280. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.273.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Nezlek,J.,B.,Wesselmann,E.,Wheeler,L.,&Williams,K. D.(2012).Ostracism in everyday life.Group Dynamics, 16, 91–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028029
Orbuch, T. L., House, J. S., Mero, R. P., & Webster, P. S. (1996). Marital quality over the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 59(2), 162–171. https://doi.org/10.2307/2787050
Renkema, L. J., Stapel, D. A., & Van Yperen, N. W. (2008). Go with the flow: Conforming to others in the face of existential threat. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 747–756. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.468.
Riva, P., Williams, K. D., Torstrick, A. M., & Montali, L. (2014). Orders to shoot (a camera): Effects of ostracism on obedience. The Journal of Social Psychology, 154, 208–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2014.883354.
Ross, C. E., Mirowsky, J., & Goldsteen, K. (1990). The impact of the family on health: The decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 52(4), 1059–1078.
Russac, R. J., Gatliff, C., Reece, M., & Spottswood, D. (2007). Death anxiety across the adult years: An examination of age and gender effects. Death Studies, 31(6), 549–561. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180701356936.
Saylor, C. F., Nida, S. A., Williams, K. D., Taylor, L. A., Smyth, W., Twyman, K. A., Macias, M. M., & Spratt, E. G. (2012). Bullying and Ostracism Screening Scales (BOSS): Development and applications. Children’s Health Care, 41(4), 322–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/02739615.2012.720962.
Sebastian, C., Viding, E., Williams, K. D., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2010). Social brain development and the affective consequences of ostracism in adolescence. Brain and Cognition, 72(1), 134–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2009.06.008.
Smith, A., & Williams, D. K. (2004). R U There? Ostracism by cell phone text messages. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 8(4), 291–301. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2699.8.4.291.
Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2004). The cultural animal: Twenty years of terror management theory and research. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology (pp. 13–34). New York: Guilford.
Steele, C., Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2015). On social death: Ostracism and the accessibility of death thoughts. Death Studies, 39, 19–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2013.844746.
Stroud, L. R., Salovey, P., & Epel, E. S. (2002). Sex differences in stress responses: Social rejection versus achievement stress. Biological Psychiatry, 52(4), 318–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01333-1.
Twenge, J. M., Baumeister, R. F., Tice, D. M., & Stucke, T. S. (2001). If you can’t join them, beat them: Effects of social exclusion on aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1058–1069. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.6.1058.
Ungar, L., Florian, V., & Zernitsky-Shurka, E. (1990). Aspects of fear of personal death, levels of awareness, and professional affiliation among dialysis unit staff members. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 21(1), 51–67. https://doi.org/10.2190/0749-XDR2-VT5J-X0HW.
van Beest, I., & Williams, K. D. (2006). When inclusion costs and ostracism pays, ostracism still hurts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 918–928. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.918.
Van Laningham, J., Johnson, D. R., & Amato, P. (2001). Marital happiness, marital duration, and the U-shaped curve: Evidence from a five-wave panel study. Social Forces, 79(4), 1313–1341.
Warburton, W. A., Williams, K. D., & Cairns, D. R. (2006). When ostracism leads to aggression: The moderating effects of control deprivation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 213–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.03.005.
Williams, K. D. (2001). Ostracism: The power of silence. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Williams, K. D. (2007a). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 425–452. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085641.
Williams, K. D. (2007b). Ostracism: The kiss of social death. Compass: Social and Personality Psychology, 1, 236–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00004.x.
Williams, K. D. (2009a). Ostracism: A temporal need-threat model. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 275–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)00406-1.
Williams, K. D. (2009b). Ostracism: A temporal need-threat model. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 41, pp. 279–314). New York: Academic Press.
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C., & Choi, W. (2000). Cyberostracism: Effects of being ignored over the Internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 748–762. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.748.
Williams, K. D., Govan, C. L., Croker, V., Tynan, D., Cruickshank, M., & Lam, A. (2002). Investigations into differences between social- and cyberostracism. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6(1), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2699.6.1.65.
Williams, K. D., & Jarvis, B. (2006). Cyberball: A program for use in research on ostracism and interpersonal acceptance. Behavior Research Methods, 38, 174–180. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192765.
Williams, K. D., & Nida, S. A. (2011). Ostracism: Consequences and coping. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(2), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411402480.
Williams, K. D., & Sommer, K. L. (1997). Social ostracism by coworkers: Does rejection lead to loafing or compensation? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(7), 693–706. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167297237003.
Wisman, A., & Goldenberg, J. L. (2005). From the grave to the cradle: evidence that mortality salience engenders a desire for offspring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 46–61. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.1.46.
Yaakobi, E. (2015). Desire to work as a death anxiety buffer mechanism. Experimental Psychology, 62(2), 110–122. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000278.
Yaakobi, E., Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2014). Parenthood as a terror management mechanism: The moderating role of attachment orientations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 762–774. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214525473.
Yaakobi, E., & Williams, K. D. (2016a). Ostracism and attachment orientation: Avoidants are less affected in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. British Journal of Social Psychology, 55(1), 162–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12122.
Yaakobi, E., & Williams, K. D. (2016b). Recalling an attachment event moderates distress after ostracism. European Journal of Personality, 30(3), 258–273. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2050.
Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R. (2004). How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer lowers belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 560–567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2003.11.006.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yaakobi, E. Death thoughts mediate ostracism mood reduction: The moderating role of marital status. Motiv Emot 42, 576–585 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9672-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9672-8