Societal Exclusion

By manipulating people’s invulnerability to physical harm, experimenters were able to use mental simulations to show the link with societal exclusion’s response to groups. Three studies were conducted to show these responses and account for whether feelings of exclusion changed behavior in a positive or negative way to in-groups and out-groups. It was also taken into account whether the change was due to invulnerability to physical harm or elimination of pain. They found that the elimination of threats concerning injury rather than pain decreased the heavy impact of exclusion on a person. They also found that those who have been rejected are more likely to desire social reconnections with in-group members and that this is also affected by
This time 30 female students and 47 male students and members of the community were asked to take a survey. They also were rewarded with $2 for participating which could be a response bias. These participants were randomly assigned like in the other studies and were primed to either thoughts of social rejection or any negative experience. They were also divided into experiencing the flying simulation or the elimination of physical harm simulation and were later asked to describe their desire for social reconnection. Again, the thought of invulnerability aided in decreasing the need to reconnect while those who had been excluded and also given the flying simulation were more likely to desire a reconnection since their social pain was not eliminated. Inconsistencies were an issue among studies however when analyzing other variables, but in general the main theory was supported and the elimination of injury or harm did impact responses to exclusion in terms of biases in groups and social
When a person is an outcast or exiled from a group, they have a lesser chance of survival; however, when this danger is eliminated, their social pain is decreased. A somewhat childish, but accurate example of this could be Simba from the Disney movie, The Lion King. He is a baby when he is separated from his family and friends and feels socially outcast due to the internal guilt he feels for his father’s death. In reality, he would not have survived had Timone and Pumba not rescued him. Because they eliminated his threat of danger and injury, Simba eventually overcomes his social pain and enjoys his life with Timone and Pumba. Simba is a symbolic figure of the outcast and isolated individual who would not have survived and thrived without the friends who eliminated his