Ostracism and Ego Depletion: The Strains of Silence

Two studies examined whether ostracizing someone depletes psychological resources in the ostracizer. In Study 1, people who followed instructions to avoid conversation with a confederate for 3 minutes later showed decrements in persistence on unsolvable problems. In Study 2, ostracizers showed subse...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2001-09, Vol.27 (9), p.1156-1163
Main Authors: Ciarocco, Natalie J., Sommer, Kristin L., Baumeister, Roy F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Depletion
Ego resilience
Ostracism
Personal resources
Self image
Social psychology
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Summary:Two studies examined whether ostracizing someone depletes psychological resources in the ostracizer. In Study 1, people who followed instructions to avoid conversation with a confederate for 3 minutes later showed decrements in persistence on unsolvable problems. In Study 2, ostracizers showed subsequent impairments in physical stamina on a handgrip task. Although ostracism affected mood too, mood did not appear to mediate the main findings. Past work has shown that ostracism has negative consequences for the victim, but the present results indicate that ostracism has a harmful impact on the ostracizer too.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167201279008