Thesis
Psychological and Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: Examining the Possible Moderating Role of Relational Self-Schemata
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000003351
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/122604
Abstract
People develop contextualized self-concepts that organize and guide their appraisals, affect, and behaviors in relevant situations. These self-concepts are most often linked to representations of specific significant others, and they can be activated in ambiguous social situations to aid in the interpretation of social cues. The Relational Self-Schema Measure (RSSM; Scott, Penningroth et al., 2021) is a newly designed measure of individuals’ self-concepts and psychological needs in close social relationships. This study investigates how well the RSSM can predict individuals’ psychological experiences and behavioral responses to an uncomfortable social situation: ostracism. We examined whether participants with self-concepts that possess higher levels of psychological need frustration, as measured by the RSSM, will react more aggressively when they are being ostracized by others. Seventy-nine participants completed the RSSM and were randomly assigned to an ostracism or inclusion situation. In the ostracism manipulation, participants were instructed that one of the confederates was a research assistant in the lab, and they were asked to rate the performance of the research assistant in terms of competence and friendliness. Participant’s performance evaluations of the research assistant were used as an indicator of aggressive behaviors towards the research assistant. Moderation analyses suggest that the individual RSSM need satisfaction and need frustration factors are not significant moderators of psychological and behavioral responses to ostracism, suggesting that ostracism has a strong psychological impact on individuals that may not be moderated by individual differences.
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Details
- Title
- Psychological and Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: Examining the Possible Moderating Role of Relational Self-Schemata
- Creators
- Xingzi Li
- Contributors
- Walter Scott (Advisor)David Marcus (Committee Member)G. Leonard Burns (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 33
- Identifiers
- 99900652204401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis