Reduced Cortisol Output during Public Speaking Stress in Ostracized Women.

Ulrike Weik,Jennifer Ruhweza,Renate Deinzer

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00060

Abstract

Ostracism (being excluded or ignored) is experienced as unpleasant and distressing. In previous studies, an immediate pre-stress experience of ostracism induced by Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing game, was found to inhibit cortisol reactivity to public speaking stress in female students. The present study examines whether the effect will persist when a 15-min time gap between the Cyberball experience and subsequent psychological stress is introduced. N = 84 women were randomly assigned to Cyberball ostracism vs. inclusion. 15 min after playing Cyberball, all women were subjected to public speaking stress. Salivary cortisol and mood were repeatedly assessed during the course of the experiment. These are the main findings of the study: Repeated measures ANCOVA revealed that public speaking stress resulted in a significant increase of cortisol in both groups (inclusion vs. ostracism). However, cortisol levels were significantly lower in the ostracism group. In earlier studies when Cyberball was played immediately before public speaking stress, the cortisol response to public speaking was completely suppressed in ostracized women. By introducing a waiting period between Cyberball and public speaking stress in the present study, the main effect of an ostracism induced reduction of cortisol remained, although both groups showed an increase of cortisol as a response to public speaking. These results again suggest that the experience of ostracism might inhibit hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, thereby confirming previous results. The formerly observed total suppression of HPA axis responsiveness to public speaking, however, seems to be a rather short-term effect.

Highlights

The need to belong, i.e., establishing and maintaining social relationships, is an existential need for human beings (Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Cacioppo et al, 2011)
The present study focuses on neuroendocrine responses to Cyberball ostracism
These results indicate that even if there is no direct effect of Cyberball ostracism on cortisol secretion, it still may have neuroendocrine effects that become apparent in stressful situations after the experience of ostracism

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The need to belong, i.e., establishing and maintaining social relationships, is an existential need for human beings (Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Cacioppo et al, 2011). Cyberball ostracism does not induce cortisol release, it still appears to affect HPA-axis by altering cortisol responsiveness to subsequent stress, in an unexpected way. Women who underwent the ostracism condition failed to mount a cortisol response to a postostracism laboratory speaking task, while women in the inclusion condition exhibited significant responses These results indicate that even if there is no direct effect of Cyberball ostracism on cortisol secretion, it still may have neuroendocrine effects that become apparent in stressful situations after the experience of ostracism. The present study examined whether the ostracism effect on cortisol will still be observable when public speaking stress is not applied immediately after the ostracism experience but after a short time lag (i.e., 15 min). It was hypothesized that Cyberball ostracism would affect cortisol secretion in women subsequently subjected to a public speaking stress under conditions of a 15-min waiting period between Cyberball and public speaking stress

Study Participants and Ethics

Overall Procedure

RESULTS

DISCUSSION