Desire for Social Reconnection After Exclusions As Shown By Approach Avoidance Behaviors

Abstract

This study investigates the immediate desire for social reconnection after exclusion. The reconnection response is recorded in milliseconds to test if this response is automatic and immediately followed by exclusion. The hypothesis is that excluded participants will approach happy faces faster than neutral faces compared to included individuals. 34 participants played Cyberball and experienced either social inclusion or exclusion. Following Cyberball, participants engaged in an Approach-Avoidance Task to measure the motive to reconnect. The results were non-significant but were trending in the direction of supporting the hypothesis. In addition, across both groups, there was a main effect of response in which all participants approached faces faster than they avoided them. The limitation of this study is the small sample size, that appeared to have prevented finding sufficient testing of the hypothesis. A power analysis suggested that the hypothesis would have been confirmed with a larger sample size.