(Purdue University)
http://www1.psych.purdue.edu/~willia55/
Ostracism: Psychological Impact of Being Ignored and Excluded
Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—is a painful experience for nearly everyone, regardless of their individual differences and the situational context. Ostracism threatens needs for belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence, and elicits coping strategies aimed at fortifying these threatened needs. Individual differences and situational context plays a role for the duration of the distress, and also in the means by which individuals cope. Long-term ostracism depletes resources for fortifying needs, and results in resignation. I will present an overview of my research, but then focus on some new experiments showing some surprising (at least to me) and unintended causes for feelings of ostracism.
The colloquium will be held in Psychology Building 035.