Social exclusion induces early-stage perceptual and behavioral changes in response to social cues

Social exclusion is so aversive that it causes broad cognitive and behavioral changes to regulate the individual's belonging status. The present study examined whether such changes also occur at early neural or automatic behavioral levels in response to social cues. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and facial electromyograms (EMGs) were recorded during a task in which participants viewed smiling, disgusted, and neutral faces after experiencing social exclusion or inclusion. Social exclusion was manipulated using a simple ball-tossing game (Cyberball), and need threat was assessed after the game. We found that zygomaticus major muscle activity, which reflects facial mimicry, was larger in response to smiling faces after exclusion than after inclusion. In addition, P1 amplitude, which reflects visual attention, was larger for disgusted faces than for neutral faces following social exclusion. N170 amplitude, which reflects structural encoding of the face, was correlated with heightened need threat. These findings demonstrate that social exclusion induces immediate and rapid changes in attention, perception, and automatic behavior. These findings reflect the rapid and primary regulation of belonging.