Responses to exclusion are moderated by its perceived fairness |
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| Authors: | Taylor Tuscherer Donald F Sacco James H Wirth Heather M Claypool Kurt Hugenberg Eric D Wesselmann |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Psychology, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois, USA;2. Department of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA;3. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University at Newark, Newark, Ohio, USA;4. Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA;5. Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, USA |
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| Abstract: | Experimental exclusion manipulations may induce exclusion in a way that participants perceive as unfair. Groups often use exclusion punitively to correct inappropriate behavior, however, which may lead to perceptions that it is potentially justified or fair. The current studies examined if individuals' perceptions of fairness with respect to an exclusion experience moderated their reactions. Participants wrote about or imagined a time in which they were excluded after they did something wrong (fair exclusion) or excluded even though they did nothing wrong (unfair exclusion) or about a mundane experience unrelated to exclusion (control). Compared with fair exclusion, unfair exclusion resulted in significantly weaker efficacy needs satisfaction (Studies 1, 2, and 4), greater antisocial intent (Study 3), and greater sensitivity to signs of interpersonal acceptance and rejection in a visual search task (Study 4). These results suggest that it is important to consider the role of perceived fairness in shaping responses to exclusion. |
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| Keywords: | belongingness rejection aggression emotion perception exclusion |
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