Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2003 · 707 citations · 58 references
Social SciencesPsychologySocial PsychologyCognitive PsychologyExperimental PsychologySocial CognitionReaction TimeSocial ExclusionSocial JudgmentSocial WithdrawalDeconstructionExclusionary Social RejectionSocial Exclusion ParadigmsSocial Exclusion Theory
The study hypothesizes that social exclusion induces a defensive state of cognitive deconstruction marked by lethargy, altered time perception, and avoidance of meaningful thought, emotion, and self‑awareness. Experiments show that excluded participants overestimate time, focus on the present, fail to delay gratification, endorse life as meaningless, produce fewer words, react more slowly, use fewer emotion words, and avoid self‑awareness by turning away from a mirror.
The authors hypothesize that socially excluded individuals enter a defensive state of cognitive deconstruction that avoids meaningful thought, emotion, and self-awareness, and is characterized by lethargy and altered time flow. Social rejection led to an overestimation of time intervals, a focus on the present rather than the future, and a failure to delay gratification (Experiment 1). Rejected participants were more likely to agree that "Life is meaningless" (Experiment 2). Excluded participants wrote fewer words and displayed slower reaction times (Experiments 3 and 4). They chose fewer emotion words in an implicit emotion task (Experiment 5), replicating the lack of emotion on explicit measures (Experiments 1-3 and 6). Excluded participants also tried to escape from self-awareness by facing away from a mirror (Experiment 6).
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