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Published on: September 28, 2018
Need threat can motivate performance after ostracism
Jeremy P Jamieson1, Stephen G Harkins, Kipling D Williams
1Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. jamieson.jp@gmail.com
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|April 15, 2010
Summary
Ostracism threatens basic needs, but people don't always use cognitive tasks to cope. When given a chance to impress others, ostracized individuals improve performance to regain belonging.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Ostracism threatens fundamental human needs, including belonging, self-esteem, and control.
- Previous research has not fully explored how need threat following ostracism motivates responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether cognitive task performance serves as a response to need threats induced by ostracism.
- To examine the conditions under which ostracized individuals might be motivated to perform better on cognitive tasks.
Main Methods:
- Participants experienced ostracism or inclusion via the Cyberball game.
- Performance on a cognitive ability task (antisaccade) was measured post-Cyberball.
- Experiment 2 introduced an avenue for social comparison of task performance.
Main Results:
- Ostracized participants performed worse on the antisaccade task, indicating they did not use it to address need threats.
- When performance comparison was possible, ostracized participants outperformed included participants.
- The enhanced performance was mediated by the need for belonging, suggesting a motivation to improve social standing.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive task performance is not automatically employed to counteract ostracism-induced need threats.
- Providing an opportunity for social comparison can motivate ostracized individuals to perform better on cognitive tasks.
- This improved performance is driven by a desire to restore belonging and demonstrate worth.
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