Abstract
Social exclusion has a myriad of negative effects on students’ psychological and social well-being. One way to combat such negative effects is to raise awareness about social exclusion in schools. Here, we describe and evaluate a training program that was carried out across schools in The Netherlands. The program relies on basic experiential learning principles and a well-established social exclusion paradigm to make participants experience and discuss social exclusion. We had two goals in the current paper: (1) discussing previous work supporting the feasibility of such programs and (2) presenting a secondary analysis of the data generated by the program. The analyses are based on 14,065 participants (ages 12–19) and a subset of those who evaluated the program later (n = 386). Our review of the literature supports the feasibility of the program. The results of the secondary data analyses indicate that participants found the program insightful, talked to others about the program, and applied the knowledge gained from the program to their own lives. Taken together, this provides a proof of concept for the evaluated training program.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
More information can be found in the Supplementary Materials link, Sect. 1.
Currently they are using an updated version of the ball-tossing game that can run on tablets and they mostly run this program in classroom environments, reducing costs and increasing accessibility.
See Sect. 3 in Supplementary Materials link for a discussion on the focus on social exclusion and not social inclusion as an experience in the training program.
These 12 items were part of a larger questionnaire about the overall project. Here we only report the relevant items and more information about the questionnaire can be found in the Sect. 4 of Supplementary Materials link.
Comparison to the midpoint of the scale is a conservative test given that participants feel lower levels of need threat in inclusion and non-social control conditions (around 1.50 out of 5, Dvir et al., 2019).
See Sect. 5 in the Supplementary Materials link for a detailed discussion of how various factors of the game (e.g., avatar choice or group size) may influence participants’ experience in the game. We believe that this discussion can be useful for researchers who wish to design or use versions of this training program.
References
Abrams, D., Weick, M., Thomas, D., Colbe, H., & Franklin, K. M. (2011). On-line ostracism affects children differently from adolescents and adults. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 110–123. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151010X494089
Baker, A. C., Jensen, P. J., & Kolb, D. A. (2005). Conversation as experiential learning. Management Learning, 36(4), 411–427. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507605058130
Baumeister, R. F., Twenge, J. M., & Nuss, C. K. (2002). Effects of social exclusion on cognitive processes: Anticipated aloneness reduces intelligent thought. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(4), 817–827. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.4.817
Beeri, A., & Lev-Wiesel, R. (2012). Social rejection by peers: A risk factor for psychological distress. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 17(4), 216–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-3588.2011.00637.x
Buhs, E. S., & Ladd, G. W. (2001). Peer rejection as an antecedent of young children’s school adjustment: An examination of mediating processes. Developmental Psychology, 37(4), 550. https://doi.org/10.1037//OO12-1649.37.4.550
Chen, C. W. (2018). “Think before you type”: The effectiveness of implementing an anti-cyberbullying project in an EFL classroom. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 13(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2017.1363046
Chen, Z., Williams, K. D., Fitness, J., & Newton, N. C. (2008). When hurt will not heal: Exploring the capacity to relive social and physical pain. Psychological Science, 19(8), 789–795. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02158.x
Cundiff, J. L., Zawadzki, M. J., Danube, C. L., & Shields, S. A. (2014). Using experiential learning to increase the recognition of everyday sexism as harmful: The WAGES intervention. Journal of Social Issues, 70(4), 703–721. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12087
de Waal-Andrews, W., & van Beest, I. (2012). When you don’t quite get what you want: Psychological and interpersonal consequences of claiming inclusion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(10), 1367–1377. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212450463
Dvir, M., Kelly, J. R., & Williams, K. D. (2019). Is inclusion a valid control for ostracism? Journal of Social Psychology, 159(1), 106–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1460301
Elenbaas, L., & Killen, M. (2016). Research in developmental psychology: Social exclusion among children and adolescents. In P. Riva & J. Eck (Eds.), Social exclusion: Psychological approaches to understanding and reducing its impact (pp. 1–295). Springer.
Gerber, J., & Wheeler, L. (2009). On being rejected: A meta-analysis of experimental research on rejection. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(5), 468–488. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01158.x
Gilman, R., Carter-Sowell, A., DeWall, C. N., Adams, R. E., & Carboni, I. (2013). Validation of the ostracism experience scale for adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 25(2), 319–330. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030913
Hall, L., Jones, S., Paiva, A., & Aylett, R. (2009). FearNot! providing children with strategies to cope with bullying. Proceedings of IDC 2009—The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, 276–277.
Harrist, A. W., & Bradley, K. D. (2003). “You can’t say you can’t play”: Intervening in the process of social exclusion in the kindergarten classroom. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18(2), 185–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2006(03)00024-3
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), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127002
Hawes, D. J., Zadro, L., Fink, E., Richardson, R., O’Moore, K., Griffiths, B., Dadds, M. R., & Williams, K. D. (2012). The effects of peer ostracism on children’s cognitive processes. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9(5), 599–613. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2011.638815
Healey, M., & Jenkins, A. (2000). Kolb’s experiential learning theory and its application in geography in higher education. Journal of Geography, 99(5), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221340008978967
Heath, M., Williams, E. N., & Wynn, D. (2021). Experiential learning activity to ameliorate workplace bullying. Journal of Education for Business, 96, 476–483. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2020.1858016
Hoglund, W. L. G., Lalonde, C. E., & Leadbeater, B. J. (2008). Social-cognitive competence, peer rejection and neglect, and behavioral and emotional problems in middle childhood. Social Development, 17(3), 528–553. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00449.x
Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (2nd ed.). FT Press.
Konak, A., Clark, T. K., & Nasereddin, M. (2014). Using Kolb’s experiential learning cycle to improve student learning in virtual computer laboratories. Computers and Education, 72, 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.10.013
Ladd, G. W. (2006). Peer rejection, aggressive or withdrawn behavior, and psychological maladjustment from ages 5 to 12: An examination of four predictive models. Child Development, 77(4), 822–846.
Lai, C. H., Yang, J. C., Chen, F. C., Ho, C. W., & Chan, T. W. (2007). Affordances of mobile technologies for experiential learning: The interplay of technology and pedagogical practices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23(4), 326–337. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2007.00237.x
Leary, M. R. (2015). Emotional responses to interpersonal rejection. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(4), 435–441. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195130157.003.0006
Leff, S. S., Waasdorp, T. E., & Crick, N. R. (2010). A review of existing relational aggression programs: Strengths, limitations, and future directions. School Psychology Review, 39(4), 508–535. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2010.12087739
Leggette, H. (2012). Experiential learning using second life®: A content analysis of student reflective writing. Journal of Agricultural Education, 53(3), 124–136. https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2012.03124
Lev-Wiesel, R., Nuttman-Shwartz, O., & Sternberg, R. (2006). Peer rejection during adolescence: Psychological long-term effects—a brief report. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 11(2), 131–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325020500409200
Lewis, L. H., & Williams, C. J. (1994). Experiential learning: Past and present. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 1994(62), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.36719946203
McDougall, P., Hymel, S., Vaillancourt, T., & Mercer, L. (2001). The consequences of childhood peer rejection. In M. R. Leary (Ed.), Interpersonal rejection (pp. 213–247). Oxford University Press.
O’Reilly, J., Robinson, S. L., Berdahl, J. L., & Banki, S. (2014). Is negative attention better than no attention? The comparative effects of ostracism and harassment at work. Organization Science, 26(3), 774–793. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2014.0900
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1987). Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are low-accepted children at risk? Psychological Bulletin, 102(3), 357–389. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.102.3.357
Platt, B., Kadosh, K. C., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2013). The role of peer rejection in adolescent depression. Depression and Anxiety, 30(9), 809–821. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22120
Prinstein, M. J., & Aikins, J. W. (2004). Cognitive moderators of the longitudinal association between peer rejection and adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32(2), 147–158.
Qualter, P., Brown, S. L., Munn, P., & Rotenberg, K. J. (2010). Childhood loneliness as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms: An 8-year longitudinal study. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 19(6), 493–501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-009-0059-y
Rajchert, J., Konopka, K., & Huesmann, L. R. (2017). It is more than thought that counts: The role of readiness for aggression in the telationship between ostracism and displaced aggression. Current Psychology, 36(3), 417–427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9430-6
Revelle, W. (2021). psych: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research (2.1.9) [R]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psych.
Riva, P., Montali, L., Wirth, J. H., Curioni, S., & Williams, K. D. (2017). Chronic social exclusion and evidence for the resignation stage. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 34(4), 541–564. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407516644348
Robinson, S. L., O’Reilly, J., & Wang, W. (2013). Invisible at work: An integrated model of workplace ostracism. Journal of Management, 39(1), 203–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312466141
Robinson, S. L., & Schabram, K. (2017). Invisible at work: Workplace ostracism as aggression. Research and theory on workplace aggression (pp. 221–244). Cambridge University Press.
Rudert, S. C., Hales, A. H., Greifeneder, R., & Williams, K. D. (2017). When silence is not golden: Why acknowledgment matters even when being excluded. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(5), 678–692. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217695554
Rudert, S. C., Janke, S., & Greifeneder, R. (2021). Ostracism breeds depression: Longitudinal associations between ostracism and depression over a three-year-period. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 4(February), 100118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100118
Sleegers, W. W. A., Proulx, T., & van Beest, I. (2016). The social pain of Cyberball: Decreased pupillary reactivity to exclusion cues. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 69, 187–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.08.004
Svetieva, E., Zadro, L., Denson, T. F., Dale, E., O’Moore, K., & Zheng, W. Y. (2016). Anger mediates the effect of ostracism on risk-taking. Journal of Risk Research, 19(5), 614–631. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2014.1003320
van Beest, I., & Williams, K. D. (2006). When inclusion costs and ostracism pays, ostracism still hurts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 918–928. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.918
van Beest, I., Williams, K. D., & van Dijk, E. (2011). Cyberbomb: Effects of being ostracized from a death game. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 14(4), 581–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430210389084
Vannini, N., Watson, S., Dautenhahn, K., Enz, S., Sapouna, M., Wolke, D., Woods, S., Hall, L., Paiva, A., André, E., Aylett, R., & Schneider, W. (2011). “FearNot!”: A computer-based anti-bullying-programme designed to foster peer intervention. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 26(1), 21–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0035-4
Williams, K. D. (2009). Ostracism: A temporal need-threat model. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 275–314). Elsevier.
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W. (2000). Cyberostracism: Effects of being ignored over the Internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 748–762. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.748
Williams, K. D., & Jarvis, B. (2006). Cyberball: A program for use in research on interpersonal ostracism and acceptance. Behavior Research Methods, 38(1), 174–180. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192765
Wölfer, R., & Scheithauer, H. (2013). Ostracism in childhood and adolescence: Emotional, cognitive, and behavioral effects of social exclusion. Social Influence, 8(4), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2012.706233
Zadro, L., & Williams, K. D. (2006). How do you teach the power of ostracism? Evaluating the train ride demonstration. Social Influence, 1(1), 81–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510500400669
Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R. (2004). How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer is sufficient to lower self-reported levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(4), 560–567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2003.11.006
Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R. (2005). Riding the “O” Train: Comparing the efffects of ostracism and verbal dispute on targets and sources. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 8(2), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430205051062
Zawadzki, M. J., Danube, C. L., & Shields, S. A. (2012). How to talk about gender inequity in the workplace: Using WAGES as an experiential learning tool to reduce reactance and promote self-efficacy. Sex Roles, 67(11–12), 605–616. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-012-0181-z
Zimmerman, C. A., Carter-Sowell, A. R., & Ganesan, A. (2021). Confrontation as an interpersonal response to ostracism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(3), 436–449. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2749
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The current research evaluates a training program carried out by a non-profit organization. Any opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the non-profit in question.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors indicate no further conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meral, E.O., van Beest, I. & Karaduman, C. Raising awareness about social exclusion in schools through experiential learning. Soc Psychol Educ 26, 367–381 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09746-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09746-y