Interpersonal Behavior Topic 3

Ostracism

Exclusion ocurring when someone is given the cold shoulder and ignored by those around them

Affects of ostracism

• Influences emotion, cognition, and physical health

• Reduces performance on intellectual tasks and of the immune system

• Poor sleep

• Can also cause increased aggression and poor impulse control

What do people concerned with connection do after ostracism?

• Seek inclusion elsewhere

• Pay more attention to social cues

What do people concerned with control do after ostracism?

• Can become aggressive when seeking attention, causing less acceptance

What affects the response to ostracism?

Perceived control, personality, and cognition

How do people with high self-esteem deal with ostracism?

• They’re less likely to put up with

• More likely to end the relationship with ostracism occurs

How do people with low self-esteem deal with ostracism?

• More likely to accept rejection and stay in the relationship

Which fundamental needs did ostracism lower?

The need to belong, have social control, have a meaningful existence

What are other problems of exclusion?

• Life loses meaning

• Increased willingness to sacrifice money or well-being to increase one’s affiliation

• Decreased prosocial behavior

• Can cause people to turn to violence (i.e., school shooters)

How does the brain respond to social pain?

• The same as physical pain

• Taking tylenol alleviated symptoms

Why does rejection produce anger?

Frustration, threat to self-esteem, attempt for control, revenge, and loosened inhibitions to aggression

How does rejection affect self-control?

People who are rejected tended to:

• Eat more cookies

• Drink less ounces of an unpleasant drink

• Give up sooner on a puzzle

How is the need to belong biologically based?

• Rooted in reproduction

• More social humans tend to reproduce

Sex ratio

number of men

number of women

What do sex ratios correlate with?

Cultures with high sex ratios tend to support traditional roles and be less conservative, while cultures with low sex ratios are less traditional

How has marriage and relationships changed in the US?

• Marriages occur later and less often, with fewer children and more children being born outside of marriage

  • Economics, individualistic culture, and tech advancements encourage putting off marriage

  • Marriage viewed as a choice

• Couples are more likely to cohabitate before marriage

  • Correlates with higher divorce rates

• Couples often cohabitate without getting married

  • Less satisfied and trusting

Instrumental traits

Stereotypically male:

• Assertiveness

• Self-reliance

• Ambition

• Leadership

• Decisiveness

Expressive traits

Stereotypically female:

• Warmth

• Tenderness

• Compassion

• Kindness

• Sensitivity to others

How do gender roles affect marital happiness?

• Traditional marriages tend to be less happy than nontraditional marriages

Connection between psychological and physical warmth

• The insular cortex is connected both

• After exclusion, people perceive their room to be colder and choose warmer beverages

• People holding warm packs feel less lonely and evaluate products more positively

• People with cold packs have a higher need to affiliate