Abstract
Research indicates that non-human attachment figures may mitigate the negative consequences of social exclusion. In the current experiment, we examined how the presence of an unfamiliar companion dog in the laboratory effects physiological and behavioral reactions in female emerging adults after social exclusion compared to inclusion. Results revealed the beneficial effects of the dog: Socially excluded participants in the company of a dog showed less aggressive behavior in response to the hot sauce paradigm compared to excluded participants in the control condition. Furthermore, cardiac responses indicated mitigated perception of threat in a subsequent insult episode when a dog was present. The presence of a dog did not impact the most instantaneous, “reflexive” response to the social exclusion as revealed by characteristic cardiac changes. Together, the findings indicate that the presence of a companion dog takes effect in a later, reflective period following a social exclusion experience, which implicates relevant social elaboration and appraisal processes.
Highlights
The longing for social ties is a fundamental part of human nature [1]
The choice of sample size was based on previous work demonstrating effects of an animal on the impact of social exclusion [33], effects of experimentally manipulated situational factors on antisocial behavior following exclusion in the hot sauce paradigm [27], and differences in immediate cardiac responses to social rejection versus acceptance and negative social evaluation [36,40,44]
In the analysis of the instantaneous response to the exclusion/inclusion message, the relevant three-way interaction of time by exclusion/inclusion message by presence of dog/control stimulus was non-significant (F(4,316) = 0.8, p = 0.559; main effect time: F(4,316) = 3.2, p = 0.013, partial eta2 = 0.04; time × exclusion/inclusion: F(4,316) = 0.1, p = 0.973; time × dog/control: F(4,316) = 1.3, p = 0.261). It follows that the presence of a dog did not moderate the typical time course of the transient cardiac response immediately after the experience of social exclusion (“reflexive” part of the response; Figure 1)
Summary
The longing for social ties is a fundamental part of human nature [1]. feeling left out has powerful and immediate emotional consequences, ranging from mood deterioration to suicidal thoughts [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8].It is even more important that the experience of social exclusion elicits a variety of behavioral responses including prosocial, avoidant, as well as antisocial and aggressive behaviors [6,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21].Aside from characteristics of the individual, several situational variables may help to explain under which circumstances people respond pro- or antisocially to social exclusion [4,6,16,22,23,24,25,26,27].Most important to the present study, more prosocial reactions were observed when socially excluded individuals believed that there was still a chance for regaining acceptance from their social environment.Individuals utilize various means in order to regain a sense of belonging after social threat. It is even more important that the experience of social exclusion elicits a variety of behavioral responses including prosocial, avoidant, as well as antisocial and aggressive behaviors [6,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]. Thinking about one’s own social identity [28], anticipating inclusion by other individuals [12,29], and the use of para-social attachment figures as social surrogates [30,31,32] all reduced negative emotions and antisocial tendencies after social exclusion. Aydin et al [33] extended these findings and demonstrated
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