THE EFFECT OF CYBERBALL EXCLUSION ON AUTOMATIC APPROACH BEHAVIOR_ Gasparov

Abstract

The social reconnection hypothesis posits that individuals experiencing social exclusion have a strong desire to form new connections. Past research has indicated that those who feel excluded by others actively seek new social bonds. This study aimed to assess whether the inclination to reconnect occurs automatically and reflexively. Our hypothesis was that participants excluded via Cyberball would demonstrate a faster approach toward happy faces compared to neutral faces during the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) in contrast to included participants. Thirty-four adults were recruited from an online participant pool. They engaged in a Cyberball game where they were either included or excluded from the game. Participants in the included condition consistently received ball tosses throughout the game, while those in the excluded condition received only three tosses initially and none thereafter. Following the Cyberball game, participants completed the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT), based on the instruction to approach or avoid faces displayed on the screen. Each participant completed the AAT twice. In one ATT, they approached happy faces and avoided neutral ones; then they avoided happy faces and approached neutral faces in the second round. Results indicated that the excluded group nearly approached happy faces more rapidly than neutral faces compared to the included group, an effect that nearly reached statistical significance. Nonetheless, a power analysis indicated that maintaining the effect size would require additional participants to achieve significance. Therefore, these findings suggest a potential demonstration of the automatic inclination to reconnect after experiencing exclusion.