Emotions and behavioral intentions in response to ostracism attributed to a perceived lack of warmth versus competence

Abstract

Individuals who are ostracized (i.e., ignored or excluded by others) experience a range of negative emotions and show various coping behaviors. We investigated whether target attributions of warmth and competence as perceived reasons for ostracism were differently related to emotions and behavioral intentions. In Study 1, participants ( N = 321) recalled a nonspecific ostracism experience. We found no evidence that warmth and competence attributions were distinctly related to emotions or behavioral intentions. In Study 2, participants ( N = 294) were instructed to recall being ostracized for specific reasons (warmth vs. competence). Ostracism attributed to incompetence evoked stronger feelings of anger and less prosocial intentions. Moreover, across both studies, targets primarily felt sad and wanted to withdraw regardless of the perceived reasons for ostracism. In contrast to more explicit forms of exclusion such as rejection, responses to warmth and competence attributions of ostracism may only become more distinguishable depending on context.