And yet it Hurts: Undiminished Social Pain and the Harm of Long-Term Social Exclusion

Prior research has uncovered a variety of adverse psychological consequences of long-term
social exclusion, including severe mental health problems. However, the factors that
contribute to making the experience of long-term social exclusion so harmful have remained
largely unexplored. The present body of research fills this void by exploring three factors that
play a potential role in modulating experiences of social exclusion: minimal experiences,
repetition, and expectations. Experimental studies can inform about the moderating influence
of each of these factors (or the lack thereof) on reactions to short-term social exclusion, such
as feelings of social pain. This, in turn, may be suggestive regarding the potential malleability
of negative consequences in long-term social exclusion. I here present ten studies including
data from 2544 participants that experimentally examine the influence of these three factors
on responses following social exclusion. Results offer a clear picture, indicating undiminished
social pain following social exclusion even when 1) the exclusion experience is minimal,
2) exclusion occurs repeatedly, and 3) individuals expect exclusion. The use of various
experimental paradigms, application of different state-of-the-art methods (e.g., Bayesian
statistics), and conceptual replication across online and offline samples provide a strong basis
to confidentially conclude that none of these factors alleviate reactions to social exclusion.
This offers important insights, indicating that one potential reason for the harmful
consequences of long-term social exclusion is the undiminished intensity of reactions to social
exclusion regardless of minimal experiences, repetition, and expectations.