Empathy gaps for social pain: Why people underestimate the pain of social suffering.

In 5 studies, the authors examined the hypothesis that people have systematically distorted beliefs about the pain of social suffering. By integrating research on empathy gaps for physical pain (Loewenstein, 1996) with social pain theory (MacDonald & Leary, 2005), the authors generated the hypothesis that people generally underestimate the severity of social pain (ostracism, shame, etc.)—a biased judgment that is only corrected when people actively experience social pain for themselves. Using a social exclusion manipulation, Studies 1–4 found that nonexcluded participants consistently underestimated the severity of social pain compared with excluded participants, who had a heightened appreciation for social pain. This empathy gap for social pain occurred when participants evaluated both the pain of others (interpersonal empathy gap) as well as the pain participants themselves experienced in the past (intrapersonal empathy gap). The authors argue that beliefs about social pain are important because they govern how people react to socially distressing events. In Study 5, middle school teachers were asked to evaluate policies regarding emotional bullying at school. This revealed that actively experiencing social pain heightened the estimated pain of emotional bullying, which in turn led teachers to recommend both more comprehensive treatment for bullied students and greater punishment for students who bully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If you can't join them, beat them: Effects of social exclusion on aggressive behavior.

Social exclusion was manipulated by telling people that they would end up alone later in life or that other participants had rejected them. These manipulations caused participants to behave more aggressively. Excluded people issued a more negative job evaluation against someone who insulted them (Experiments 1 and 2). Excluded people also blasted a target with higher levels of aversive noise both when the target had insulted them (Experiment 4) and when the target was a neutral person and no interaction had occurred (Experiment 5). However, excluded people were not more aggressive toward someone who issued praise (Experiment 3). These responses were specific to social exclusion (as opposed to other misfortunes) and were not mediated by emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social exclusion and early-stage interpersonal perception: Selective attention to signs of acceptance.

Social exclusion can thwart people's powerful need for social belonging. Whereas prior studies have focused primarily on how social exclusion influences complex and cognitively downstream social outcomes (e.g., memory, overt social judgments and behavior), the current research examined basic, early-in-the-cognitive-stream consequences of exclusion. Across 4 experiments, the threat of exclusion increased selective attention to smiling faces, reflecting an attunement to signs of social acceptance. Compared with nonexcluded participants, participants who experienced the threat of exclusion were faster to identify smiling faces within a “crowd” of discrepant faces (Experiment 1), fixated more of their attention on smiling faces in eye-tracking tasks (Experiments 2 and 3), and were slower to disengage their attention from smiling faces in a visual cueing experiment (Experiment 4). These attentional attunements were specific to positive, social targets. Excluded participants did not show heightened attention to faces conveying social disapproval or to positive nonsocial images. The threat of social exclusion motivates people to connect with sources of acceptance, which is manifested not only in “downstream” choices and behaviors but also at the level of basic, early-stage perceptual processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxious solitude and peer exclusion predict social helplessness, upset affect, and vagal regulation in response to behavioral rejection by a friend.

It was hypothesized that combined individual child vulnerability (anxious solitude) and interpersonal stress (peer exclusion) would predict the strongest responses to experimentally manipulated behavioral peer rejection. Results indicated that in a sample of 3rd graders (N = 160, 59% girls), anxious solitary excluded children displayed more behavioral manifestations of social helplessness before and after behavioral rejection, reported more feelings of rejection in anticipation of and reaction to behavioral rejection, and were observably more upset during behavioral rejection than were normative children. Moreover, affective responses to behavioral rejection mediated the relation between anxious solitary excluded status and behavioral manifestations of social helplessness. Furthermore, anxious solitary excluded children versus anxious solitary children demonstrated excessive suppression of vagal tone and more sustained acceleration in heart rate during the experiment. Results also indicated that affective, social–cognitive, and regulatory processes directly contributed to children’s responses to behavioral rejection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Logging on, bouncing back: An experimental investigation of online communication following social exclusion.

A majority of U.S. adolescents at least occasionally communicate on the Internet with unknown peers. This study tested the hypothesis that online communication with an unknown peer facilitates recovery from the acute aversive effects of social exclusion and examined whether this benefit may be greater for adolescents compared with young adults. A total of 72 young adults (mean age = 18.4 years) and 51 adolescents (mean age = 12.5 years) were randomly assigned to undergo a standardized laboratory induction of social inclusion or exclusion, followed by 12 min of either communication with an unfamiliar other-sex peer or solitary computer game play. Compared with solitary game play, instant messaging with an unfamiliar peer facilitated greater replenishment of self-esteem and perceived relational value among previously excluded adolescents and young adults. Online communication also resulted in greater reduction of negative affect among adolescents but not among young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's internal representations, empathy and fantasy play: A validity study of the SCORS-Q.

The authors investigated relationships among internal representations, empathy, and affective and cognitive processes in fantasy play to test the validity of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale Q-Sort (SCORS--Q; D. Westen, 1995) with children. Eighty-six 8--10-year-olds were administered 8 Thematic Apperception Test cards, a standardized play task, and a self-report empathy measure. Teachers rated children's empathy and helpfulness. As predicted, internal representations were related to empathy, helpfulness, and quality of fantasy play. Developmental differences on the SCORS--Q were consistent with object relations theory and with results from the original SCORS. The findings support the value of internal representations as a means of understanding children's interpersonal functioning and contribute to the validity of the SCORS--Q for use with children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social exclusion on cognitive processes: Anticipated aloneness reduces intelligent thought.

Three studies examined the effects of randomly assigned messages of social exclusion. In all 3 studies, significant and large decrements in intelligent thought (including IQ and Graduate Record Examination test performance) were found among people told they were likely to end up alone in life. The decline in cognitive performance was found in complex cognitive tasks such as effortful logic and reasoning; simple information processing remained intact despite the social exclusion. The effects were specific to social exclusion, as participants who received predictions of future nonsocial misfortunes (accidents and injuries) performed well on the cognitive tests. The cognitive impairments appeared to involve reductions in both speed (effort) and accuracy. The effect was not mediated by mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

My head says yes but my heart says no: Cognitive and affective attraction as a function of similarity to the ideal self.

The authors hypothesized that similarity to the ideal self (IS) simultaneously generates attraction and repulsion. Attraction research has suggested that a person likes individuals who are similar to his or her IS. Social comparison research has suggested that upward social comparison threatens self-evaluation. In Experiment 1, attraction to a partner increased and then decreased as the partner became more similar to and then surpassed the participant's IS. In Experiment 2, the cognitive and affective components of attraction increased and decreased, respectively, as the partner approached and surpassed the participant's IS to the extent that the dimension of comparison was meaningful and participants anticipated meeting their partner. Similarity to the IS generates opposing cognitive and affective reactions when the self-evaluative threat of upward comparison intensifies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Exclusion and the Deconstructed State: Time Perception, Meaninglessness, Lethargy, Lack of Emotion, and Self-Awareness.

The authors hypothesize that socially excluded individuals enter a defensive state of cognitive deconstruction that avoids meaningful thought, emotion, and self-awareness, and is characterized by lethargy and altered time flow. Social rejection led to an overestimation of time intervals, a focus on the present rather than the future, and a failure to delay gratification (Experiment 1). Rejected participants were more likely to agree that "Life is meaningless" (Experiment 2). Excluded participants wrote fewer words and displayed slower reaction times (Experiments 3 and 4). They chose fewer emotion words in an implicit emotion task (Experiment 5), replicating the lack of emotion on explicit measures (Experiments 1-3 and 6). Excluded participants also tried to escape from self-awareness by facing away from a mirror (Experiment 6). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Older women with osteoarthritis and their caregiving husbands: Effects of pain and pain expression on husbands' well-being and support.

Objectives: To examine the moderating effects of wives' pain expression (verbal disclosure, nonverbal behavior) on the relationship between wives' pain and husbands' well-being and support provision. Design: Interviews were conducted with couples at baseline; questionnaires were mailed 6 months later. Setting: All women were patients at a rheumatology clinic. Participants: The sample included older women (n = 101) with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) and their caregiving husbands. Main Outcome Measures: Outcomes were husbands' psychological well-being (depressive symptoms, life satisfaction) and the quality of their support to wives (emotional support, critical attitudes). Results: Verbal and nonverbal expression of OA pain increased the likelihood that women experiencing severe pain would have husbands with poor psychological well-being. Moreover, verbal pain disclosure strengthened the association between the severity of wives' pain and less emotional support from husbands. Conclusions: Findings suggest that wives' verbal and nonverbal communications about their pain, especially about severe pain, have the potential to decrease the psychological well-being and support resources of their caregiving spouses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)