Responses to social exclusion in cultural context: Evidence from farming and herding communities.

Abstract

In a series of studies, we investigated the role of economic structures (farming vs. herding) and source of ostracism (close other vs. stranger) in social exclusion experiences. We first confirmed that herders rely on strangers to a greater extent than do farmers for economic success (validation study). Next, we verified that farmers and herders understand the concept of ostracism, and its emotional consequences, in similar ways (Study 1). The studies that followed provided converging evidence that cultural group membership shapes sensitivity and responses to social exclusion. Using different methodologies, in Studies 2 and 3, we showed that, whereas the psychological consequences of ostracism by close others are similar for farmers and herders, herders are more strongly affected by ostracism from strangers. The last two studies demonstrated that herders recommend more affiliative responses to ostracism by strangers than do farmers both to those involved in the ostracism event (Study 4) and to naïve individuals (Study 5). Moreover, Study 5 revealed that the amount of time spent with strangers mediated cultural group differences in the extent to which affiliative and aggressive actions are recommended following social exclusion by strangers. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the economic systems on which communities are based shape how their members interact with others and that this, in turn, can shape individuals' responses to social exclusion.

Culture, Social Interdependence, and Ostracism

“…In the majority of studies to date, the ostracizers have been individuals unknown to participants or people who did not constitute a welldefined group (for an exception see Uskul & Over, 2014). Because members of collectivistic societies tend to make more clear-cut distinctions between ingroup and outgroup members, feel more concerned about how others treat their social groups, and have lower levels of relational mobility making social bonds more stable and exclusive (e.g., Markus & Kitayama, 1991;Yuki & Schug, 2012), the heavy reliance of research on unknown others as ostracizers so far may have obscured important cultural differences.…”

Interdependent Self-Construal Predicts Reduced Sensitivity to Norms Under Pathogen Threat: An Electrocortical Investigation

“…Consistent with this supposition, prior work shows that interdependence attenuates the impact of threat on both neural (Coan et al, 2006;Eisenberger et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2014) and behavioral responses (Gardner et al, 2005;Over & Uskul, 2016;Ren et al, 2013;Uskul & Over, 2014.…”

“…A similar reduction of pain response is observed when people are induced to feel interdependent (Wang et al, 2014). Third, evidence is growing that people high in interdependent SC are more resilient when they are socially excluded (Gardner et al, 2005;Over & Uskul, 2016;Ren et al, 2013;Uskul & Over, 2014. 1 Altogether, the available evidence indicates that when various threats, including physical pain and social exclusion, are perceived to be imminent, interdependent SC can provide a sense of security and protection.…”

“…When there is a cue of an imminent threat, interdependent SC may recruit an active psychological defense against the threat (e.g., memories of social support or friendship ties). These acts of psychological defense could 1 It is of note that Over and Uskul (2014) specified social exclusion by others whom the individual knows. This study therefore provides a particularly compelling demonstration that interdependence buffers a threat of social exclusion supposedly because there are others in the group who are still accepting the person even when some members of the group have excluded him or her.…”

Suicide and Types of Agriculture: A Time‐Series Analysis in Japan

“…We could speculate that the contextual effect related to suicide and animal husbandry exists. Previous studies in social psychology have suggested that the characteristics between farming and herding communities differ, affecting not only farmers but also other residents (Uchida et al., ; Uskul & Over, ). Thus, there is a need for additional research into the potential place effects in play, which are the classical province of epidemiology and health sociology (Durkheim, ).…”