Review
Ostracism and social exclusion: Implications for separation, social isolation, and loss

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Highlights

  • Ostracism is central to concepts of separation, social isolation, and loss.

  • Reactions to ostracism include pain, need threat, coping, and if coping is unsuccessful, resignation.

  • Long-term consequences of experiencing ostracism can result in alienation, depression, helplessness, and feelings of unworthiness.

  • Interventions that focus on real-world, longer-term interventions is needed.

Abstract

Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—has received considerable experimental research attention over the last 25 years. Ostracism signals social separation, isolation, and loss, and responses vary across time. Ostracism episodes as short as 2 min result in physiological pain responses, need threat, and emotional distress, followed by cognitive, emotional, motivational, and behavioral responses that either increase the likelihood of subsequent inclusion (at the cost of being socially pliable), or ensure further ostracism through aggression or solitude. Longer-term ostracism leads to resignation, accompanied by alienation, depression, helplessness, and feelings of unworthiness of attention by others. This review focuses on current research on factors that prolong the isolation and loss associated with ostracism, and on interventions that may speed recovery.

Introduction

Although the idea of the need to belong as a basic human motive has existed in psychology for decades, the study of ostracism—being ignored and excluded by one or more others—has become a major topic in social psychology only over the last 25 years or so. To at least some extent, the dramatic upsurge in interest in this general topic can be attributed to an influential article by Baumeister and Leary [1], which presented convincing evidence that threats to our sense of belonging have effects that are harmful both psychologically and physically. The research specifically on ostracism has consistently supported this conclusion. Whereas ostracism often involves an intentional act of social exclusion, studies suggest that people may still feel the pain caused by ostracism [2] even when they are targeted indiscriminately, which actually may happen more often [3]. For this reason, the work on ostracism offers insights that can help us understand the likely consequences of social isolation—even when it is not the result of one individual seeking to do social harm to another.

Section snippets

The temporal need-threat model of ostracism

The temporal need-threat model of proposed by Williams [4] has served as the theoretical framework for much of the research on ostracism (see Figure 1). The model proposes that one's reaction to ostracism happens in three stages: an immediate, reflexive stage; a coping, or reflective stage; and a long-term, resignation stage.

During the initial stage, ostracism serves to signal social danger. Because it is adaptive to detect ostracism quickly, the person's response is reflexive in nature, and

Implications for separation, social isolation, and loss

Whereas most of the early research on ostracism focused on the immediate or short-term impact of ostracism on individual targets [13∗, 14, 15], more recent research has shifted attention to longer-term consequences [10,11] and possible short-term interventions to speed recovery [16] (presence of dog) [17], (photos of loved ones) [18], (parasocial stimuli) [19]; (prayer or self-affirmation) [20], (focused attention) [21]; (comfort food)]. Most people experience daily episodes of often brief and

Possible interventions to reduce a prolonged sense of separation, isolation, and loss

Research on ways of dealing with ostracism in order to mitigate its negative impact has begun to accumulate. It is unlikely that ostracism can be eradicated, and perhaps it should not be. It serves the function of increasing homogeneity, civility, and responsibility in groups, and it is ingrained in all social animals. Perhaps the basic awareness generated by articles and media attention on ostracism and the silent treatment can decrease its use by those who are inclined to use it habitually,

Conclusions

Ostracism is painful and threatens fundamental needs that are all associated with separation, isolation, and loss. Even mild instantiations of ostracism have powerful and detrimental effects. Whereas most daily instances of ostracism can be only momentarily distressing, various factors, both internal and external to the individual, can prolong its effects, increasing the likelihood that coping will give way to resignation. Research on preventing this passage from reflection and coping to

Conflict of interest statement

Nothing declared.

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