Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs
Most of our knowledge related to how social exclusion affects those who ostracize and those who are being ostracized is based on questionnaires administered after the ostracism situation is over. In this research, we strived to further our understanding of the internal dynamics of an ostracism situa...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.558069/full |
| _version_ | 1819172877118734336 |
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| author | Fabian Klauke Simone Kauffeld |
| author_facet | Fabian Klauke Simone Kauffeld |
| author_sort | Fabian Klauke |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Most of our knowledge related to how social exclusion affects those who ostracize and those who are being ostracized is based on questionnaires administered after the ostracism situation is over. In this research, we strived to further our understanding of the internal dynamics of an ostracism situation. We therefore examined individuals’ language—specifically, function words—as a behavior indicative of psychological processes and emergent states that can be unobtrusively recorded right in the situation. In online chats, 128 participants talked about a personal topic in groups of three. In the experimental group (n = 79), two conversation partners ignored every contribution by the third. We found that, compared to the control group, these targets of ostracism used language indicative of a self-focus and worsened mood, but not of social focus or positivity, although positivity was related to a writer’s likeability. Sources of ostracism used language suggesting that they were distancing themselves from the situation, and they further engaged in victim derogation. We discuss how our results highlight the severity and potential self-sustainability of ostracism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T20:14:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-97b5f13f69d9416883d587c8d5d81403 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T20:14:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-97b5f13f69d9416883d587c8d5d814032022-12-21T18:14:00ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-11-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.558069558069Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It OccursFabian KlaukeSimone KauffeldMost of our knowledge related to how social exclusion affects those who ostracize and those who are being ostracized is based on questionnaires administered after the ostracism situation is over. In this research, we strived to further our understanding of the internal dynamics of an ostracism situation. We therefore examined individuals’ language—specifically, function words—as a behavior indicative of psychological processes and emergent states that can be unobtrusively recorded right in the situation. In online chats, 128 participants talked about a personal topic in groups of three. In the experimental group (n = 79), two conversation partners ignored every contribution by the third. We found that, compared to the control group, these targets of ostracism used language indicative of a self-focus and worsened mood, but not of social focus or positivity, although positivity was related to a writer’s likeability. Sources of ostracism used language suggesting that they were distancing themselves from the situation, and they further engaged in victim derogation. We discuss how our results highlight the severity and potential self-sustainability of ostracism.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.558069/fullostracismLIWClanguagepronoun usevictim derogationself-focus |
| spellingShingle | Fabian Klauke Simone Kauffeld Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs Frontiers in Psychology ostracism LIWC language pronoun use victim derogation self-focus |
| title | Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs |
| title_full | Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs |
| title_fullStr | Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs |
| title_short | Does It Matter What I Say? Using Language to Examine Reactions to Ostracism as It Occurs |
| title_sort | does it matter what i say using language to examine reactions to ostracism as it occurs |
| topic | ostracism LIWC language pronoun use victim derogation self-focus |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.558069/full |
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