Anticipated emotional and behavioral responses to ambiguous rejection by a significant other, friend, or acquaintance

Although there is an extensive literature on interpersonal rejection, individual studies that have examined adults' emotional and behavioral responses to rejection have tended to limit their scope to a specific category of rejector (e.g., acquaintances). As a result, prior research has failed to systematically investigate whether individuals' emotional and behavioral responses to perceived rejection differ as a function of the role of the potential rejector. In the present study, a total of 481 participants read two scenarios describing hypothetical situations in which rejection by a specific individual (i.e., significant other, friend, or acquaintance) was ambiguous. After each scenario, participants rated the extent to which they would be likely to anticipate (a) experiencing various negative emotions (e.g., upset) and (b) engaging in various behavioral responses (i.e., act friendly, retaliate, complain, avoid) to the potential rejector. Overall, the potential of being rejected by another person with whom one has a close and valued relationship (i.e., a significant other and, to a lesser degree, a friend) was associated with heightened negative emotion and a heightened likelihood of engaging in an active response, either prosocial (i.e., act friendly) or antisocial (i.e., retaliate or complain). In contrast, potential rejection by an acquaintance was associated with relatively little negative emotion and relatively little desire to engage the other (i.e., avoid). In sum, the participants' relationship with specific individuals was found to influence both the intensity of their anticipated negative emotional response to ambiguous rejection and the pattern of their anticipated behavioral response to the potential rejectors.