The Psychophysiological Responses to Social Exclusion and Affective Films
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Date
2008-06
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
This research studies the effects of viewing a positive or a negative (violent) film clip on the psychophysiological responses to social exclusion. While previous research has found impressive behavioral overlap between social exclusion and violent media, these two stimuli have not been studied together. Subjects were exposed to either a positive or a negative film prior to being ostracized by a computer-based, social exclusion paradigm. Resulting psychophysiological variables, principally heart rate and heart rate variability, were compared in a between-subjects design. Surprisingly, a task effect (F(3, 33)=12.86, p<.001) and interaction for heart rate and film type (F(3,33)=3.690, p<.05) demonstrated that the positive film seemed to have a protective effect on the physiological response to social exclusion, decreasing heart rate compared to baseline measures in this film-viewing group. The underlying dynamics of this cardiovascular response show that the decreased heart rate resulted from an attenuation of autonomic nervous system activity during the social exclusion period.
Description
Arts and Sciences Honors Undergraduate Research Scholarship
Keywords
psychophysiology, social exclusion, film violence, ostracism