Inclusion and Identity

Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary

argued that humans have a need to belong, “a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and impactful interpersonal relationships.”

Aristotle

famously suggested “Man is by nature a social animal; and an unsocial person who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either unsatisfactory or superhuman.”

Prolonged social isolation

has been identified as a risk factor for the onset of a number of psychological disorders, including depression, paranoia, and the disordered thought characteristic of schizophrenia

Loneliness

Cognitive and affective malaise, which can include sadness, dejection, self- deprecation, and boredom, experienced when one’s personal relationships are perceived to be too few or too unsatisfying

Emotional Loneliness

occurs when the problem is a lack of a long-term, meaningful, intimate relationship with another person. This type of loneliness might be triggered by divorce, a breakup with a lover, or repeated romantic failures.

Social Loneliness

occurs when people feel cut off from their network of friends, acquaintances, and group members. People who have moved to a new city, children who are rejected by their peers, and new employees of large companies often experience social loneliness, because they are no longer embedded in a network of friends and acquaintances

Ostracism –

The need to belong is slaked when a group accepts them, but they are the most satisfied when a group actively seeks them out. Excluding one or more individuals from a group by reducing or eliminating contact with the person, usually by ignoring, shunning, or explicitly banishing them

The Temporal Need-Threat Model of Ostracism

Reflexive Stage, Reflective Stage, Resignation Stage

Williams (2009)

developed this model that posits that individuals respond to social exclusion in three successive stages.

Reflexive Stage

It is characterized by a flood of negative feelings— pain, disappointment, and distress—that all serve to signal that something is wrong.

Reflective Stage

directs the individual's attention to reflect on the meaning and importance of the ostracism episode leading to coping responses that serve to fortify the threatened need

Resignation Stage

alienation, helplessness, loss of self- worth, and depression.

Fight-or-flight response

a common reaction of people when they face stressful, threatening circumstances, and Williams suggests it is motivated by a desire to gain a sense of control in a deleterious situation

Tend-and-Befriend Response

A physiological, psychological, and interpersonal response to stressful events characterized by increased nurturing, protective and supportive behaviors (tending), and initiating and strengthening relationships with other people (befriending).

Exclusion and Aggression

• The need to belong is a powerful force in human behavior, so much
so that individuals can respond violently when that need is thwarted.

• Some individuals experience sadness when excluded; they respond to exclusion passively. But others are angered when excluded, and these individuals are the ones who are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior, including aggression.

Individualism

based on the independence and uniqueness of each individual. This perspective assumes that people are autonomous; they must be free to act and think in ways that they prefer rather than submit to the demands of the group.

Collectivism

recognizes that human groups are not mere aggregations of independent individuals, but complex sets of interdependent members who must constantly adjust to the actions and reactions of others around them.

Exchange Relationship

A reciprocal interdependency that emphasizes the trading of gratifying experiences and
rewards among members.

Communal Relationship

A reciprocal interdependency that emphasizes meeting the needs and interests of others rather than maximizing one’s own personal outcomes.

Norm of Reciprocity

A social standard that enjoins individuals to pay back in kind what they receive from others.

Group Culture

The distinct ways that members of a group represent their experiences, including consensually accepted knowledge, beliefs, rituals, customs, rules, language, norms, and practices.

Personal Identity

An individual’s perception of those aspects of his or her self-concept that derive from individualistic, personal qualities such as traits, beliefs, and skills.

Social Identity

An individual’s perception of those aspects of his or her self-concept that derive from his or her relationships with other people, groups, and society.

Individualists

Individuals predisposed to put their own personal interests and motivations above the group’s interests and goals.

Collectivists

Individuals predisposed to put the group’s interests and goals above their personal interests and motivations.

Social Identity Theory

A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members’ self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorize themselves as group members and identify with the group.

Social Categorization

The perceptual classification of people, including the self, into categories.

Stereotypes

A socially shared set of cognitive generalizations (e.g.,beliefs and expectations) about the qualities and characteristics of the typical member of a particular group or social category.

Self-stereotyping

Accepting socially shared generalizations about the prototypical characteristics attributed to members of one’s group as accurate descriptions of oneself.

Social Identification

Accepting the group as an extension of the self and therefore basing one’s self-definition on the group’s qualities and characteristics.

Collective Self-Esteem

Individuals’ overall assessment of that portion of their self- concept that is based on their relationships with others and membership in social groups.

Stereotype Threat

The anxiety-provoking belief that others’ perceptions and evaluations will be influenced by their negative stereotypes about one’s group that
can, in some cases, interfere with one’s ability to perform up to one’s capabilities.

Maximum Exclusion

Group Rejects or Ostracises person

Active Exclusion

Group avoids person

Passive Exclusion

Group ignores the person

Ambivalence

Group neither accepts or rejects individual

Passive Inclusion

Group allows member to join

Active Inclusion

Group welcomes member

Maximum Inclusion

Group actively recruits member