Rapid heartbeat, but dry palms: reactions of heart rate and skin conductance levels to social rejection.

Benjamin Iffland,Frank Neuner,Lisa M Sansen,Claudia Catani

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00956

Benjamin Iffland, Frank Neuner + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00956

Copy DOI

Abstract

Background: Social rejection elicits negative mood, emotional distress, and neural activity in networks that are associated with physical pain. However, studies assessing physiological reactions to social rejection are rare and results of these studies were found to be ambiguous. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine and specify physiological effects of social rejection.Methods: Participants (n = 50) were assigned to either a social exclusion or inclusion condition of a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball). Immediate and delayed physiological [skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate] reactions were recorded. In addition, subjects reported levels of affect, emotional states, and fundamental needs.Results: Subjects who were socially rejected showed increased heart rates. However, social rejection had no effect on subjects' SCLs. Both conditions showed heightened arousal on this measurement. Furthermore, psychological consequences of social rejection indicated the validity of the paradigm.Conclusions: Our results reveal that social rejection evokes an immediate physiological reaction. Accelerated heart rates indicate that behavior activation rather than inhibition is associated with socially threatening events. In addition, results revealed gender-specific response patterns suggesting that sample characteristics such as differences in gender may account for ambiguous findings of physiological reactions to social rejection.

Highlights

Experiences of social rejection and exclusion cause immediate distress and are associated with the development of psychosomatic problems, health risk factors, i.e., smoking, obesity, or high blood pressure, and a wide range of psychological disorders (Bell-Dolan et al, 1995; Reinherz et al, 2000; Deater-Deckard, 2001; Hock and Lutz, 2001; Nolan et al, 2003; Uchino, 2006)
Our results reveal that social rejection evokes an immediate physiological reaction
Accelerated heart rates indicate that behavior activation rather than inhibition is associated with socially threatening events

Summary

Introduction

Experiences of social rejection and exclusion cause immediate distress and are associated with the development of psychosomatic problems, health risk factors, i.e., smoking, obesity, or high blood pressure, and a wide range of psychological disorders (Bell-Dolan et al, 1995; Reinherz et al, 2000; Deater-Deckard, 2001; Hock and Lutz, 2001; Nolan et al, 2003; Uchino, 2006). Social rejection caused the opposite pattern, i.e., a sympathetic activation and a reduction of parasympathetic activity in other experiments documented by increased heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) withdrawal (Murray-Close, 2011) as well as increased skin conductance levels (SCL; Murray-Close, 2011; Shoulberg et al, 2011; Sijtsema et al, 2011; Kelly et al, 2012) These studies used the so-called Cyberball paradigm to simulate social rejection that showed reliable effects in eliciting feelings of social exclusion (Williams et al, 2000; Williams and Jarvis, 2006). The present study aimed to examine and specify physiological effects of social rejection

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion