Perceived ostracism and paranoia: A test of potential moderating effects of psychological flexibility and inflexibility

Abstract

Ostracism is known to lead to negative psychological outcomes; however, little is known as to how ostracism may be a predictor of paranoid thoughts. The present paper examined the relationship between perceived ostracism and paranoid thoughts (social reference, persecution) by focusing on the potential moderating roles of psychological flexibility and inflexibility. As expected, data from a sample of 315 internet users (Mage = 31.5 years) showed that perceived ostracism was positively related to both social reference and persecution. Psychological flexibility did not moderate the ostracism-paranoid thought relationships. However, psychological inflexibility was a moderator of the ostracism-social reference relationship, but not for ostracism-persecution. Specifically, at both high and low levels of psychological inflexibility, there was a significant positive relationship between ostracism and social reference. These unexpected findings suggest that future research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms by which perceived ostracism may lead to paranoia.

Conspiracy theory beliefs in the adolescent population: A systematic review

“…As such, the development of mistrust before adolescence has the potential to be the first stage in the acquisition of conspiracy theory beliefs, calling into question whether conspiracy theory beliefs develop before the second decade of life. Likewise, perceived ostracism is correlated with paranoia (Waldeck et al, 2023) and belief in conspiracy theories in adults (Poon et al, 2020) but has not yet been explored in adolescent samples despite younger age groups presenting as more sensitive to ostracism than adults (Pharo et al, 2011).…”

Social defeat and psychosis-related outcomes: Associative and experimental tests related to the nature of defeat, specificity of outcomes, and psychosis-proneness

“…In support of the nonneurobiological tenants of this theory, a common factor underlying many risk factors for psychosis is membership in often socially denigrated minority groups, for example, being an immigrant (Bourque et al, 2011;Cantor-Graae and Selten, 2005), refugee (Brandt et al, 2019), racial/ethnic minority (Barr et al, 2022;Kirkbride et al, 2006;Leaune et al, 2019), sexual minority (Gevonden et al, 2014;Post et al, 2021), or transgender individual (Hanna et al, 2019). Adverse social experiences, which in some instances, may be directly linked to minority status, for example, discrimination (Anglin, 2023;Anglin et al, 2014;Bardol et al, 2020;Janssen et al, 2003;Oh et al, 2014), bullying (Van Dam et al, 2012;Wolke et al, 2014), and ostracism (Jaya et al, 2022;Lincoln et al, 2021;Waldeck et al, 2022) are too associated with psychotic disorders and experiences. The emergence of psychotic symptoms may also set the conditions for further social defeat.…”