ostracism research

A professor at Purdue university has done some interesting research on the psychological and physiological effects of ostracism.

He created a experiment which featured a computer program where a randomly selected subject would virtually engage in a game of throwing and catching a ball with two other people. The subject could control who they threw the ball to, but had no say who passed the ball to them. (see above picture for screen shot of the program)

Without their knowledge, the subject was filmed playing the game in a separate room. They believed they were interacting with two other real people but really it was just them against the computer program. In the beginning of the session, the two other ball throwers would pass the ball equally to the subject, but as the game progressed, the subject no longer was involved in the play and the ball stopped being passed to them. In footage taken during the experiment, the emotional response of the subject transformed from happy facial expressions to ones reflecting anger, sadness and pain as they were progressively excluded. This video is footage of an actual subject, a student at Purdue,who participated, and it is hilarious watching him become increasingly distressed.

Following the game, subjects reported high emotional distress and lower levels of self esteem. Some even said the experiment made their lives seem less meaningful. Furthermore, it didn't matter if they knew the people they were interacting with, or even if they appeared as people they would want to be associated with-- all pain from social rejection was equally intense, regardless of who they were excluded from.

In another study, it was found that ostracism generates powerful emotional responses, and has been shown to activate the same areas of the brain as physical pain.

This all goes to show you how much rejection can hurt.. so be inclusive! Let someone sit with you at lunch and be mindful when you 'defriend' on face book.

For more information on the cyberball experiment go to the following link:

http://www1.psych.purdue.edu/~willia55/Announce/cyberball.htm