Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience
The ‘social death’ metaphor is used to reflect ostracism’s severity and death-related themes often influence ostracism research. To determine its accuracy, we examined the similarity of ostracism and mortality salience (MS) outcomes. To manipulate these constructs, we used writing prompts in Study 1...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
|
| Series: | Social Influence |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15534510.2024.2342308 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1846143464192868352 |
|---|---|
| author | Rachel S. Taggart Maayan Dvir Janice R. Kelly Eboni S. Bradley Kipling D. Williams |
| author_facet | Rachel S. Taggart Maayan Dvir Janice R. Kelly Eboni S. Bradley Kipling D. Williams |
| author_sort | Rachel S. Taggart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ‘social death’ metaphor is used to reflect ostracism’s severity and death-related themes often influence ostracism research. To determine its accuracy, we examined the similarity of ostracism and mortality salience (MS) outcomes. To manipulate these constructs, we used writing prompts in Study 1, and Cyberball and a novel MS manipulation, ‘Cybergrave,’ in studies 2, 3a, and 3b. In Study 4, we correlated chronic ostracism and death-thought accessibility. Ostracism uniquely threatened psychological needs, whereas MS uniquely activated death thoughts. Moreover, the correlation between chronic ostracism and death-thought accessibility was small and non-significant when controlling for related variables. Results suggest the death metaphor may not always be accurate. Death-related language may bias how ostracism is conceptualized and studied, emphasizing pain over recovery. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e43d19bd301d418db6971a33a5c6f35d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1553-4510 1553-4529 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Influence |
| spelling | doaj-art-e43d19bd301d418db6971a33a5c6f35d2024-12-02T13:24:09ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSocial Influence1553-45101553-45292024-12-0119110.1080/15534510.2024.2342308Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salienceRachel S. Taggart0Maayan Dvir1Janice R. Kelly2Eboni S. Bradley3Kipling D. Williams4Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USABaruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, IsraelDepartment of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USADepartment of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USADepartment of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USAThe ‘social death’ metaphor is used to reflect ostracism’s severity and death-related themes often influence ostracism research. To determine its accuracy, we examined the similarity of ostracism and mortality salience (MS) outcomes. To manipulate these constructs, we used writing prompts in Study 1, and Cyberball and a novel MS manipulation, ‘Cybergrave,’ in studies 2, 3a, and 3b. In Study 4, we correlated chronic ostracism and death-thought accessibility. Ostracism uniquely threatened psychological needs, whereas MS uniquely activated death thoughts. Moreover, the correlation between chronic ostracism and death-thought accessibility was small and non-significant when controlling for related variables. Results suggest the death metaphor may not always be accurate. Death-related language may bias how ostracism is conceptualized and studied, emphasizing pain over recovery.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15534510.2024.2342308Ostracismsocial exclusionmortality saliencedeathdeath-thought accessibility |
| spellingShingle | Rachel S. Taggart Maayan Dvir Janice R. Kelly Eboni S. Bradley Kipling D. Williams Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience Social Influence Ostracism social exclusion mortality salience death death-thought accessibility |
| title | Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience |
| title_full | Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience |
| title_fullStr | Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience |
| title_short | Death of the social self? Comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience |
| title_sort | death of the social self comparing the effects of ostracism to mortality salience |
| topic | Ostracism social exclusion mortality salience death death-thought accessibility |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15534510.2024.2342308 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rachelstaggart deathofthesocialselfcomparingtheeffectsofostracismtomortalitysalience AT maayandvir deathofthesocialselfcomparingtheeffectsofostracismtomortalitysalience AT janicerkelly deathofthesocialselfcomparingtheeffectsofostracismtomortalitysalience AT ebonisbradley deathofthesocialselfcomparingtheeffectsofostracismtomortalitysalience AT kiplingdwilliams deathofthesocialselfcomparingtheeffectsofostracismtomortalitysalience |