Differential emotional responses and relief mechanisms across social exclusion roles

A critical question in the field of social exclusion is why excluded individuals are prone to becoming excluders. Emotion regulation theory and displaced aggression theory offer a potential explanation, suggesting excluding others may serve to alleviate the negative affect caused by prior exclusion. To investigate this, we designed a series of experiments by using a perspective-taking paradigm. Study 1 established the emotional baselines for different social exclusion roles via behavioral measures, confirming the potential for emotional relief. Study 2 combined behavioral data with EEG recordings to capture neural activity during switching perspective. We identified distinct cognitive processes associated with the switching from excluded to excluder, where a significant reduction in the late positive potential specifically indexed this emotional relief. Study 3 further showed that the degree of self-reported relief was positively associated with feelings of revenge. Together, these findings are consistent with the idea that role reversal can coincide with affective relief and may help to explain how exclusion can propagate across social interactions.