Excluded from humanity: The dehumanizing effects of social ostracism

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.022

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volume 46, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 107-113

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.022 Get rights and content

Abstract

Humans have a fundamental need to form and maintain relationships. Social exclusion frustrates this need and has devastating psychological effects. The current research examines the relationship between social exclusion and the experience of dehumanization from the target’s perspective. When people were ostracized they judged themselves and those who ostracized them as less human (Studies 1 and 2), and believed they were viewed as less human by the perpetrators (Study 2). In both studies, essential ‘human nature’ was the dimension of humanness most sensitive to social exclusion.

Section snippets

Study 1

In Study 1, participants wrote an essay about an experience of social exclusion, social inclusion, or an everyday experience, modeled on the methods employed by Pickett, Gardner, and Knowles (2004). They then rated themselves and the other person (e.g., the excluder) on traits that assess the two dimensions of humanness (Haslam et al., 2005). If being excluded leads to feeling dehumanized, we would expect participants to rate themselves lower on traits associated with humanness, and Human

Study 2

To address these questions we employed Cyberball, a computer simulated ball-toss game that was developed by Williams et al. (2000). In this game participants play with two other players who either pass them the ball (inclusion condition) or do not (exclusion condition). The game models a real life ball-tossing game and participants are told that they are playing on-line with other players. In order to test our hypotheses more thoroughly and given the potential influence of trait content for

General discussion

Across two studies we found strong support for the dehumanizing consequences of social ostracism. People feel less human when they experience ostracism, see others who ostracize them as less human, and believe that they are viewed as less human by those others compared to when they feel included. The findings demonstrate that disconnection influences the extent to which all parties in episodes of social exclusion are perceived in a dehumanized fashion.

As predicted, Human Nature was the most

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ReportExcluded from humanity: The dehumanizing effects of social ostracism

Abstract

Section snippets

Study 1

Study 2

General discussion

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Moral disengagement in the perpetuation of inhumanities

Personality and Social Psychology Review

Suicide as escape from self

Psychological Review

Social exclusion impairs self-regulation

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation

Psychological Bulletin

Structures of social life: The four elementary forms of human relations

The KKK won’t let me play: Ostracism even by a despised outgroup hurts

European Journal of Social Psychology

Dehumanization: An integrative review

Personality and Social Psychology Review

Humanizing the self: Moderators of the attribution of lesser humanness to others

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

More human than you: Attributing humanness to self and others

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Violence without restraint: Reflections on the dehumanization of victims and victimizers

Interpersonal perception: A social relations analysis

Report
Excluded from humanity: The dehumanizing effects of social ostracism