Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Methods for Investigating Social Exclusion

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Social Exclusion

Abstract

It can be daunting to choose which paradigm to use to investigate a new research question. This chapter is designed to help researchers select paradigms they can use to investigate questions about social exclusion and to further explain the methods social exclusion researchers used to produce their findings. To achieve these goals, I categorize social exclusion research into three categories based on the methods used to deliver the social exclusion manipulations: interacting with computer avatars, interacting with other individuals, and written manipulations. Manipulations based on interacting with computer avatars involve computer controlled agents delivering the manipulation, such as not including participants in a ball-toss game (i.e., Cyberball), word association game (i.e., Atimia), or during a video conversation (i.e., O-cam). Computer agents may not “like” a participant’s profile (i.e., ostracism online) or may not share all available information (i.e., “being out of the loop”). Manipulations involving interacting with others include being rejected during get-acquainted interactions, getting left out of chat room and text message conversations, or being rejected by a partner following exchanging information via videotapes. Written manipulations include reliving or pre-living social exclusion experiences or getting feedback, based on a survey, that you will live a life alone. For each of these specific categories, I discuss the specific paradigms researchers used, provide some examples of how the paradigms work, and discuss the general benefits and drawbacks of each paradigm. To help guide you through the decision on which social exclusion paradigms might work best, I include a decision making tree.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aydin, N., Fischer, P., & Frey, D. (2010). Turning to god in the face of ostracism: Effects of social exclusion on religiousness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 742–753.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., Brewer, L. E., Tice, D. M., & Twenge, J. M. (2007). Thwarting the need to belong: Understanding the interpersonal and inner effects of social exclusion. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1, 506–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., DeWall, C. N., Ciarocco, N. J., & Twenge, J. M. (2005). Social exclusion impairs self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 589–604.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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, 817–827.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, M. J., & Claypool, H. M. (2012a). Not all social exclusions are created equal: Emotional distress following social exclusion is moderated by exclusion paradigm. Social Influence, 7, 113–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, M. J., & Claypool, H. M. (2012b). Social exclusion and pain sensitivity: Why exclusion sometimes hurts and sometimes numbs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 185–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, M. J., Young, S. G., Brown, C. M., Sacco, D. F., & Claypool, H. M. (2008). Social rejection initiates an adaptive response when discriminating among real and fake smiles. Psychological Science, 19, 981–983.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Böckler, A., Hömke, P., & Sebanz, N. (2014). Invisible man: Exclusion from shared attention affects gaze behavior and self-reports. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 140–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowden, E. M., & Jung-Beeman, M. (2003). Normative data for 144 compound remote associate problems. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 35, 634–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, K. E., Winkel, R. E., & Leary, M. R. (2004). Reactions to acceptance and rejection: Effect of level and sequence of relational evaluation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 14–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bushman, B. J., Bonacci, A. M., van Dijk, M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2003). Narcissism, sexual refusal, and aggression: Testing a narcissistic reactance model of sexual coercion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1027–1040.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Çelik, P., Lammers, J., van Beest, I., Bekker, M. H. J., & Vonk, R. (2013). Not all rejections are alike; Competence and warmth as a fundamental distinction in social rejection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 635–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z., & Williams, K. D. (2012). Imagined future social pain hurts more now than imagined future physical pain. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 314–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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, 789–795.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeWaal-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, 1367–1377.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeWall, C. N., & Baumeister, R. F. (2006). Alone but feeling no pain: Effects of social exclusion on physical pain tolerance and pain threshold, affective forecasting, and interpersonal empathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 1–15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeWall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F., & Voh, K. D. (2008). Satiated with belongingness? Effects of acceptance, rejection, and task framing on self-regulatory performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1367–1382.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • DeWall, C. N., Twenge, J. M., Gitter, S. A., & Baumeister, R. F. (2009). It’s the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 45–59.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975). Manual of the Eysenck personality questionnaire. San Diego, CA: EDITS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filipkowski, K. B., & Smyth, J. M. (2012). Plugged in but not connected: Individuals’ views of and responses to online and in-person ostracism. Computer in Human Behavior, 28, 1241–1253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonsalkorale, K., & Williams, K. D. (2007). The KKK won’t let me play: Ostracism even by a despised outgroup hurts. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 1176–1186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodacre, R., & Zadro, L. (2010). O-Cam: A new paradigm for investigating the effects of ostracism. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 768–774.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hartgerink, C. H. J., van Besst, I., Wicherts, J. M., & Williams, K. D. (2015). The ordinal effects of ostracism: A meta-analysis of 120 Cyberball studies. PLoS One, 10, e0127002.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hitlan, R. T., Kelly, K. M., Schepman, S., Schneider, K. T., & Zárate, M. A. (2006). Language exclusion and the consequences of perceived ostracism in the workplace. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 10, 56–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E. E., Carter-Sowell, A. R., Kelly, J. R., & Williams, K. D. (2009). ‘I’m out of the loop’: Ostracism through information exclusion. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 12, 157–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E. E., & Kelly, J. R. (2010). “Why am I out of the loop?” Attributions influence responses to information exclusion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1186–1201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kassner, M. P., Wesselmann, E. D., Law, A. T., & Williams, K. D. (2012). Virtually ostracized: Studying ostracism in immersive virtual environments. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 15, 399–403.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Klages, S. V., & Wirth, J. H. (2014). Excluded by laughter: Laughing until it hurts someone else. The Journal of Social Psychology, 154, 8–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, M. L., & Gardner, W. L. (2008). Benefits of membership: The activation and amplification of group identities in response to social rejection. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1200–1213.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, M. L., Lucas, G. M., Molden, D. C., Gardner, W. L., & Dean, K. K. (2010). There’s no substitute for belonging: Self-affirmation following social and nonsocial threats. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 173–186.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamar, S. A., Reeves, S. L., & Weisbuch, M. (2015). The nonverbal environment of self-esteem: Interactive effects of facial-expression and eye-gaze on perceivers’ self-evaluations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 130–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leary, M. R., Tambor, E. S., Terdal, S. K., & Downs, D. L. (1995). Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 518–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lelieveld, G., Moor, B., Crone, E. A., Karremans, J. C., & van Beest, I. (2013). A penny for your pain? The financial compensation of social pain after exclusion. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 206–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loftus, E. F., & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The formation of false memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25, 729–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maner, J. K., DeWall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F., & Schaller, M. (2007). Does social exclusion motivate interpersonal reconnection? Resolving the “porcupine problem.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 42–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nezlek, J. B., Kowalski, R. M., Leary, M. R., Blevins, T., & Holgate, S. (1997). Personality moderators of reactions to interpersonal rejection: Depression and trait self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1235–1244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfundmair, M., DeWall, C. N., Fries, V., Geiger, B., Krämer, T., Krug, S., … Aydin, N. (2015). Sugar or spice: Using I3 metatheory to understand how and why glucose reduces rejection‐related aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 41, 537–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfundmair, M., Graupmann, V., Frey, D., & Aydin, N. (2015). The different behavioral intentions of collectivists and individualists in response to social exclusion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 363–378.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riva, P., Wirth, J. H., & Williams, K. D. (2011). The consequences of pain: The social and physical pain overlap on psychological responses. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 681–687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., & Hubbard, M. (1975). Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 880–892.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schoel, C., Eck, J., & Greifeneder, R. (2014). A matter of vertical position: Consequences of ostracism differ for those above versus below its perpetrators. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 149–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N., Groves, R. M., & Schuman, H. (1998). Survey methods. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (pp. 143–179). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sedikides, C., Campbell, W. K., Reeder, G. D., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). The relationship closeness induction task. Representative Research in Social Psychology, 23, 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., & Williams, K. D. (2004). R U There? Ostracism by cell phone text messages. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 8, 291–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F., Lambert, N. M., Crescioni, A. W., DeWall, C. N., & Fincham, F. D. (2009). Alone and without purpose: Life loses meaning following social exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 686–694.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Twenge, J. M., Catanese, K. R., & Baumeister, R. F. (2002). Social exclusion causes self-defeating behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 606–615.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Beest, I., & Williams, K. D. (2011). “Why hast thou forsaken me?” The effect of thinking about being ostracized by God on well-being and prosocial behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 379–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Beest, I., Williams, K. D., & van Dijk, E. (2011). Cyberbomb: Effects of being ostracized from a death game. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 14, 581–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vorauer, J. D., Cameron, J. J., Holmes, J. G., & Pearce, D. G. (2003). Invisible overtures: Fears of rejection and the signal amplification bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 793–812.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wesselmann, E. D., Butler, F. A., Williams, K. D., & Pickett, C. L. (2010). Adding injury to insult: Unexpected rejection leads to more aggressive responses. Aggressive Behavior, 36, 232–237.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wesselmann, E. D., Cardoso, F. D., Slater, S., & Williams, K. D. (2012). To be looked at as though air: Civil attention matters. Psychological Science, 23, 166–168.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wesselmann, E. D., Wirth, J. H., Pryor, J. B., Reeder, G. D., & Williams, K. D. (2013). When do we ostracize? Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 108–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K., & Choi, W. (2000). Cyberostracism: Effects of being ignored over the Internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 748–762.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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, 65–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K. D., & Jarvis, B. (2006). Cyberball: A program for use in research on interpersonal ostracism and acceptance. Behavior Research Methods, 38, 174–180.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K. D., & Nida, S. A. (2011). Ostracism consequences and coping. Current Direction in Psychological Science, 20, 71–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K. D., & Sommer, K. L. (1997). Social ostracism by coworkers: Does rejection lead to social loafing or compensation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 111–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, J. H., Bernstein, M. J., Wesselmann, E. D., & LeRoy, A. S. (2015). Social cues establish expectations of rejection and affect the response to being rejected. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1368430215596073.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, J. H., Sacco, D. F., Hugenberg, K., & Williams, K. D. (2010). Eye gaze as relational evaluation: Averted eye gaze leads to feelings of ostracism and relational devaluation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 869–882.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, J. H., Turchan, P. J., Zimmerman, A. G., & Bernstein, M. J. (2014). Atimia: A novel group-based paradigm for manipulating ostracism and group members’ performance. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 18, 251–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, J. H., & Williams, K. D. (2009). “They don’t like our kind”: Consequences of being ostracized while possessing a group membership. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 12, 111–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, W., Levordashka, A., Ruff, J. R., Kraaijeveld, S., Lueckmann, J.-M., & Williams, K. D. (2014). Ostracism online: A social media ostracism paradigm. Behavior Research Methods, 47, 361–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zadro, L., & Williams, K. D. (2006). How do you teach the power of ostracism? Evaluating the train ride demonstration. Social Influence, 1, 81–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R. (2005). Riding the ‘O’ train: Comparing the effects of ostracism and verbal dispute on targets and sources. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8, 125–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Dr. Brad Okdie for his formative feedback on previous versions of this chapter, the two reviewers for their insightful feedback, and Chase Altier for his research assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, Newark, OH, USA

    James H. Wirth

Authors
  1. James H. Wirth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James H. Wirth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Room 3122, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy

    Paolo Riva

  2. University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Jennifer Eck

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wirth, J.H. (2016). Methods for Investigating Social Exclusion. In: Riva, P., Eck, J. (eds) Social Exclusion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33033-4_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation