After observing ostracism or social exclusion, older children, adolescents and adults report decreased satisfaction of the need for control. Attempting to regain control can motivate aggression in ostracized adults. Research has shown that the onset of ostracism’s harmful effects on children’s behavior is at preschool age. We investigated whether preschoolers would exert more control after witnessing ostracism. A sample of 53 children (Mage = 5 years, 5 months) first watched priming videos either showing ostracism or not. Subsequently, they participated in two ball games. In both of the games (order counterbalanced), children could control the flow of a ball’s motion, either live between two people (i.e., social control) or between two bars on a laptop screen (i.e., non‐social control). Overall, children understood social exclusion when it was displayed in the videos. We found an effect of observed ostracism only on social control. Four‐ to five‐year‐old boys who witnessed ostracism stopped a ball game between two persons longer than boys who did not witness ostracism. Our results suggest that observing social exclusion elevates young boys’ need for control over a social situation. Girls showed a different pattern but their responses did not differ significantly between ostracism and non‐ostracism conditions.

中文翻译：

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幼儿的替代性排斥和控制

在观察到排斥或社会排斥之后，年龄较大的儿童，青少年和成年人对控制的满意度降低。试图重新控制自己会激发被排斥的成年人的攻击性。研究表明，排斥对儿童行为的有害影响始于学龄前。我们调查了学前儿童目睹排斥后是否会发挥更大的控制作用。共有53名儿童（法师= 5岁5个月）的样本首先观看了是否显示出排斥现象的启动视频。随后，他们参加了两次球赛。在这两种游戏中（顺序平衡），孩子可以控制球的运动流程，既可以在两个人之间（即社交控制），也可以在笔记本电脑屏幕上的两个横条之间（即非社交控制）进行控制。总体，在视频中显示儿童时，孩子们会理解社交排斥。我们发现观察到的排斥仅对社会控制有影响。目睹被排斥的四到五岁男孩比不目睹被排斥的男孩更长的时间在两个人之间停止了一场球赛。我们的结果表明，观察社会排斥会增加小男孩控制社会状况的需要。女孩表现出不同的模式，但是他们的反应在排斥和非排斥条件下没有显着差异。我们的结果表明，观察社会排斥会增加小男孩控制社会状况的需要。女孩表现出不同的模式，但是他们的反应在排斥和非排斥条件下没有显着差异。我们的结果表明，观察社会排斥会增加小男孩控制社会状况的需要。女孩表现出不同的模式，但是他们的反应在排斥和非排斥条件下没有显着差异。