International Journal of Developmental Science

Ostracism, the act of being excluded or ignored by another individual or group (Williams, 1997; Williams et al., 2002), is a powerful, pervasive, and complex phenomenon that transcends time and affects individuals throughout their lifespan, with some of the most damaging exclusionary experiences occurring during childhood (Williams, Forgas, & von Hippel, 2005). The current paper: a) discusses some of the problems associated with empirically investigating ostracism with a child sample using the widely used and well-validated ostracism paradigm, Cyberball (Williams, Cheung, & Choi, 2000); b) outlines methodological guidelines designed to improve the effectiveness of using Cyberball to investigate the effects of ostracism in children; and c) discusses a post-Cyberball assessment of primary need-threat that is appropriate for use with a child sample (Primary Needs Questionnaire-Child—PNQ-C; Hawes et al., 2012).

The current study presents a novel experimental design to examine how real-life peer relationships modulate altruistic punishment of bullies and compensation of victims after observed ostracism. Twenty-four participants (age 20) were invited to an experimental session in groups of three classmates and two unfamiliar peers, where they engaged in online interactions with one another. They played a series of virtual ball-tossing games (Cyberball) where they observed the ostracism of a classmate by another classmate and an unfamiliar bully. In between the Cyberball sessions, participants played economic exchange games where they could invest money to increase or decrease the payoffs of the players from the preceding Cyberball session. Participants punished classmate bullies and compensated victims more when they liked the victim more than the bully. Importantly, participants punished familiar bullies less severely than unfamiliar bullies when the familiar bully was better liked than the victim.

Based on the notion that the history of victimization has an impact on the sensitivity to current victimization situations this study investigated whether victims of bullying show more pronounced responses to single episodes of social exclusion. We examined whether victimization experiences in school are associated with responses to ostracism in a virtual ball tossing game (Cyberball). We compared two groups of students: 26 victims of bullying and 32 students not involved in bully/victim problems (mean age = 12.12). After playing Cyberball, the victimized students in the ostracism condition scored significantly lower on feelings of meaningful existence compared to the ostracized students not involved in bully/victim problems. These results strongly support the idea that previously victimized students are more affected by experiences of social exclusion than students who are not involved in bully/victim problems.

Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—is a painful event that threatens fundamental needs. Ostracized individuals' reflective responses focus on cognitive appraisal and motivated recovery, and previous research suggests these appraisals can help or hinder recovery. Rumination is a negative style of cognitive appraisal that often leads to maladaptive coping strategies by prolonging distress and impeding individuals' active actions toward problem solving. We hypothesized that rumination would hinder individuals' ability to recover from ostracism in a laboratory experiment. We randomly assigned participants (N = 112, average age 19.67) to be included or ostracized in an online group interaction, and then either allowed them to ruminate or distracted them. Ostracized participants who were allowed to ruminate reported more distress than ostracized participants who were distracted, suggesting less recovery. We then discuss the developmental implications for rumination and effects on chronically ostracized individuals.

The aim of this study was to examine associations between ostracism, internalising problems, and threat to primary needs (belonging, control, self-esteem, meaningful existence) in children (N = 165, M age = 9 years). Ostracism was simulated experimentally using the Cyberball paradigm—a computer-based ball-throwing game—and threats to primary needs were indexed using a modified version of the primary needs questionnaire (PNQ-C; Hawes et al., 2012). Overall, children with greater internalising problems reported greater need-threat following Cyberball. Importantly however, in the domain of ‘belonging’, the relationship between internalising problems and need-threat was moderated by inclusionary status. Specifically, children with high levels of internalising problems exhibited greater need-threat than children low in internalising problems when included by peers; yet following ostracism, children with high internalising problems were no longer distinguishable from those with low internalising problems in terms of threat to belonging.

The present study investigated the role of control as a moderator in reaction to ostracism among male violent offenders diagnosed with ASPD (N = 33) compared to a control sample consisting of males from the normal population without a known history of violence, or diagnosis of ASPD, matched for age and educational level (N = 35). Participants played an altered version of the Cyberball game in which they could control the course of the game or not. The authors predicted and found that having control prior to ostracism would mitigate the effect of ostracism on implicit threat vigilance among violent offenders diagnosed with ASPD, but not among normal individuals. The results suggest that control needs are crucial in the typology of ASPD.