PSY2001 W5 Affiliation, Acceptance, Rejection (L) Flashcards
What is affiliation?
is the act of associating and interacting with one or more individuals.
Doesn’t indicate lenght, affective tone or quality of the interaction.
Driven by a need to feel a sense of involvement and belonging within a social group.
What is intradifferences in people’s desire to affiliate?
Affiliation
an individual’s desire to be with others can fluctuate over time and in different contexts
Social affliation model
What is relational value?
Relationally valued -> increased likelihood of acceptance and access to desired social and material outcomes
Motivation to maintain high relational value
What is acceptance as a function of relational value?
gests that individuals feel more accepted in relationships when they perceive themselves as valuable and appreciated by others.
What is rejection as a function of relational value?
occurs when individuals feel excluded or devalued in a relationship, leading to negative emotional responses due to a perceived lack of importance or worth in that social context.
What are some ways in which individuals can promote their relational value?
possessing socially desriable traits, showing reciprocity in relationships, physical attractiveness, acheivement and competence
What are some varieties of explicit rejection events?
bullying, ending of a relationships
What are some varieties of implicit rejection events?
criticism, betrayal, interpersonal favouritism
What are the consequences of rejection?
threatened fundamental needs, reduced self-esteem, hurt feelings and loneliness
Consequences of Rejection
What does it me to indiscriminate to the identity of the rejector ?
Sociometer theory
the identity of the rejector is not taken into account the rejectee still faces hurt no matter who the rejector is
What is the social affiliation theory of intrapersonal differences in desire to affiliate?
People seek to maintain an optimal level of social contact. Individuals differ in preferred level of interaction.
Homeostasis principle
What is the biological and cultural reasons of interindividual differences in desire to effiliate?
Biological explanation:Brain imaging studies have shown that social interactions produce greater arousal of the central nervous system in introverts than extroverts (Johnson et al., 1999). Introverts may avoid social interactions to stop their arousal levels reaching uncomfortable levels.
Culutral explanation: The more individualistic a country was, the more its members desired affiliation (e.g., USA and Western Europe versus China, Korea, and Japan) (Hofstede, 1980)
Why do we affiliate with others?
Evolutionary perspectives
for survival
Why do we affiliate with other?
Multidimensional model of affiliation (Hill, 1987)
People affiliate with others for 4 reasons:
Positive stimulation, Emotional support, Social comparison, Receive attention
What are the differences in our desire to affiliate?
Altman
Times when people want to be alone and out of contact with others and tere are time when others sought out, to be heard adn to hear, to talk and to listen
Intrapersonal differences
Interperonsal Differences
What are interpersonal differences?
Affiliation
Some people have a stronger desire to affiliate than other.
Biological and culutral differences
What is the Social affiliation Model
O’Connor & Rosenblood, 1996
People seek to maintain an optimal level of social contact. Individuals differ in preferred level of interaction.
Homeostasis principle
What is the homeostasis principle?
Social affiliation model
Deviations from preferred level of social interaction > adjust behaviour to return to optimal degree of contact
Episode of solitude ( seek out opportunities for affiliation )
High level of contact ( withdraw and affiliate less)
What is the biological explanation for interpersonal diffrerence in affiliation?
Brain imaging studies have shown that social interaction produce greater arousal of the central nervous system in introverts than extroverts (Johnson et al. 1999) Introverst may avoid social interactions to stop their arousal elvels reaching uncomfortable levels.
What is the culutral explanations of the interpersonal differences in affiliation?
The more individualistic a country was, the more its members desired affiliation (e.g., USA and Western Europe versus China, Korea, and Japan) (Hofstede, 1980)
What is the continuum of acceptance (Leary, 2001)
Merely tolerating someones’presence > welcoming but not seeking someone out > being highly sought out as relational partner
What is the rejection continuum (Leary, 2001)
Merely ignoring someone > avoiding or not including someone > explicitily excluding or banishing someone
How can you measure rejection and acceptance ?
degree to which one person regards his or her relationship with another individual as valuable or important (Leary, 2001)
+ perceived relational value = perception of acceptance
- perceived relational value ) feeling of rejection
Perception of rejection and acceptance depends on whether the relational value is as high as desired
What increases one’s relational value and increases their chances of acceptance?
- Possessing socially desirable traits
- Showing reciprocity in relationships
- Physical attractiveness
- Achievement and competence
What is one way to increase our relational value ?
(Leary, 1995)
seeking approval and liking: by possessing socially desirable traits and avoiding being seen as possessing disliked traits.
What are some socially desirable traits?
(Leary, 1995)
friendly, sincere, caring, fun, easy to talk to
What are some disliked traits?
(Leary, 1995)
boring, conceited, obnoxious, superficial, self-centred, mean
What is reciprocity ?
Gouldner, 1960 and Dittes & Kelley, 1956
The norm of reciprocity: “people should repay what another person has provided them”
Reciprocity in liking – we like people who like us back
What is behaviour are not reciprocating?
Cotterell et al., 1992
unsympathetic, inconsiderate, unapproachable, and hesitant to develop close relationships
Why is physical appearance key to being liked?
Physically attractive people are better liked and sought out as companions, friends, partners
Because they judged more positively on several dimensions (Feingold, 1990; Langlois et al., 2000):
* Personality traits
* Social skills
* Future prospects
Halo effect (Dion, Berscheid & Walster, 1972)
What did Feingold et al. 1992 found about goog looking people?
Meta-analysis found no relationship between physical attractiveness, intelligence, dominance, self-esteem and mental health.
BUT- Attractive people were less socially anxious, more socially skilled and less lonely
Why does achievement and competence affected acceptance?
Striving for competence and mastery to increase chances of acceptance and belonging (Baumeister, 1990)
Competent and successful people: higher relational value + more likely to be sought out (Leary, 2010):
* beneficial skills for others
* desirable rewards of their achievements
* seen as more interesting relational partners
* desire to be associated with successful people
What are some types of rejection?
Ostracism, Implicit devaluation and reject, Explicit reject
What does Ostracism mean?
Williams, 2007
The experience of being excluded or ignored by another individual or group
What is understood of Criticism?
Leary 2010
Criticism: not explicit rejection but conveys low relational value, target possess undersirable traits, undermining their relational value.
What is understood of Betrayal?
Fitness 2001
Indicate devaluation of the relatinship between people, people do not engage in acts of betrayal to people whore relationships are valued.
What is understood of bullying?
Target of bullying and malicious teasing -> low relational value in the eyes of the bully
People do not bully people whose relationship they value
What is interpersonal favouritism?
Favouring another peoson who is regarded as equal or inferior
What are some reactions to rejections?
beyond indicating low relatinship value or relationship loss.
Threatens: Four fundamental human needs, State self-esteem, hurt feelings
What are the four fundamental human needs?
Williams 2001 model of ostracism
Belonging, control, self-esteem and meaningul existence
What did Williams et al. 2002 found?
Particiapnts invitied to take part in group discussion on a given topic with two confederates. Inclusion condition vs exclusion condition
Results: Ostracised participants-> lower mood, depletion of belonging, control, self-esteem and meaningful experience.
How is the state of self-esteem affected by rejection?
reduced self esteem in lab experiements involving rejection, disapproval, ostracism and lack of interst.
* Even people who report being unconcerned about others’ opinions about themselves experience changes in self-esteem following devaluing feedback (Leary, Gallagher et al., 2003)
What are some everyday life rejections?
Unrequited love, being bullied
What did Zardo et al. 2005 found?
Methods: role-play acting out a 5-minute train ride
Source vs target of ostracism
Sources: ignore the target completely (ostracism) or argue with target.
Results:
Target of ostracism vs argument: significantly lower self-esteem
Unlike targets of argument, targets of ostracism don’t have an opportunity to actively engage in the conflict
How does reject hurt feelings?
Emotion most closely associated with rejection.
Perception of low or declining relational value.
Everyday life: explicit rejection, being ignored, criticism, betrayal, teasing and taken for granted leading to hurt feelings (Leary et al., 1998)
In the lab: eliciting low relational value results in hurt feelings (Snapp & Leary, 2001)
What did Snapp & Leary 2001 found?
Participants were told the study was about how people whose who to spend their time with
Low famillarity > Participants > Rejection or Acceptance.
High famillarity > Participants > Rejection or Acceptance.
Rejected participants felt more hurt when the confederate barely knew them vs when they were more acquainted
What research is found on rejection by despised groups?
Gonsalkorale & Williams, 2007
Participants indicated preference for one of three groups: Labour party, Liberal party or Ku Klux Klan
Cyberball game with ingroup, rival outgroup or the despised outgroup (Ku Klux Klan)
Excluded or included
Results: Ostracism resulted in depleted need satisfaction regardless of the group membership. Even being excluded by a despised group had negative effects.
Why does rejection hurt so much ?
Sociometer
A psychological system for monitoring the environment for cues indicating relational value (acceptance and rejection)
Alert the individual via negative affect and low self-esteem.
Indiscriminate to the identity of the rejector initially.
May be possible to override the initial response of negative affect and lower self-esteem
Evolutionary explanation- didn’t evolve to distinguish important from unimportant rejections
What do social affiliation model suggest?
suggests that people have a desired level of social contact and deviations from this motivates people to adjust their behaviour to return to optimal degree of contact.
What does relational value refer to ?
refers to the degree to which an individual perceives their relationship with another individual as valuable or important.
