Motivations for responses to ostracism.

Abstract

Ostracism (being ignored and excluded) and other forms of interpersonal rejection threaten individuals' physical and psychological well-being (Williams and Nida, 2011). Researchers often use the terms ostracism, social exclusion, and rejection interchangeably, but there are theoretical and empirical debates about the differential effects of these phenomena (Smart Richman and Leary, 2009; Williams, 2009; Bernstein and Claypool, 2012). We acknowledge these debates but choose to use the term ostracism ubiquitously for simplicity because most of the outcomes we discuss are similar across the phenomena. Most individuals experience these threats at least once during their lives, and some individuals experience them daily (Williams, 2009). Regardless of the mode or source by which the event occurs, ostracism threatens basic psychological needs (belonging, control, meaningful existence, and self-esteem; Nezlek et al., 2012; Wesselmann et al., in press). Williams (2009) posits a temporal structure to ostracism's effects. In Stage 1, ostracism's basic need threat is ubiquitous with few situational or dispositional moderators (Wesselmann et al., in press). Williams's model is motivation-focused; after the initial threat occurs, individuals should be motivated to recover by fortifying their threatened needs. Stage 2 focuses on cognitive and behavioral processes ostracized individuals use to recover. Stage 3 argues that chronically ostracized individuals withdraw socially and experience extreme psychological and physical damage. We will now focus on relevant Stage 2 research and then discuss suggestions for future research on Stages 2 and 3.