Ostracism Affects Levels of Pessimism but Not Risk-taking Behavior
Loading...
Date
2020-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Ostracism, the experience of being excluded and ignored, can threaten one's sense of well-being by adversely affecting fundamental needs and inducing negative mood. Both ostracism and negative mood can, subsequently, increase risk-taking behaviors. It is unclear to what extent being ostracized can change one's views about the future to be more optimistic, expecting positive future outcomes, or more pessimistic, expecting negative future outcomes. The present study examined how experiencing ostracism could change pessimism, and how both factors can, in turn, affect decision-making. Several hypotheses were tested. First, recalling ostracism will lead to greater pessimism, greater social pain, lower basic needs, and worse mood than recalling inclusion. Second, recalling inclusion would lead to greater optimism than recalling ostracism. Lastly, we hypothesize a mediation model: ostracism will adversely affect risk-taking behavior, but this relationship will be affected by levels of optimism and pessimism. Participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to recall an experience of ostracism (n = 96), inclusion (n = 86), or working in a group (control; n = 88). Next, they completed an assessment of optimism and pessimism, basic needs, mood, and risk-taking behavior. Results indicated support for the first two hypotheses. Recalling ostracism, compared to recalling inclusion and the control condition, was associated with greater pessimism and social pain and lower basic needs and mood. Recalling inclusion versus ostracism, on the other hand, was associated with greater optimism. There was no relationship between ostracism and risk-taking behaviors as limited relationships were seen between optimism, pessimism, and involvement in recreational or social risk-taking behaviors. Although recalling an ostracism experience may affect one's views about the future, such as if their life will end up better or worse, this did not translate to the expected changes in risky behaviors.
Description
Keywords
Ostracism, Pessimism, Optimism, Risk-taking