Ostracism in Everyday Life: The Effects of Ostracism on Those Who Ostracize

• Published in: The Journal of social psychology Vol. 155; no. 5; pp. 432 - 451
• Main Authors: Nezlek, John B., Wesselmann, Eric D., Wheeler, Ladd, Williams, Kipling D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 03.09.2015; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Behavioral psychology; Diaries; event-contingent diary; Female; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Ostracism; Resistance (Psychology); Social control; social exclusion; Social Isolation; Social psychology; sources of ostracism; event-contingent diary; social exclusion; sources of ostracism
• ISSN: 0022-4545; 1940-1183
• DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2015.1062351

Ostracism is a negative interpersonal experience that has been studied primarily in laboratory settings. Moreover, these studies have focused primarily on how people feel when they have been ostracized. The present study extended this research by investigating ostracism as it occurs in daily life, focusing on how people feel about ostracizing someone. Using a method modeled after the Rochester Interaction Record (RIR), for two weeks, 64 participants (adults residing in the community) described what happened each time they ostracized someone. The questions in the diary were based on Williams's (2001) need-threat model of ostracism. Most ostracism episodes were directed toward people of equal status, and participants reported lower levels of belonging but higher levels of control after ostracizing someone. Punitive ostracism was associated with more positive outcomes for the source than when people ostracized someone for other reasons.