Linguistic ostracism causes prejudice: Support for a serial mediation effect.

This research investigated the effects of linguistic ostracism, defined as any communication setting in which a target individual (or group) is ostracized by another individual (or group) in a language that the target has extremely limited ability to understand. Participants were included or ostracized by their group members during a computer-mediated group discussion. Half of the ostracized participants were linguistically ostracized via their group members conversing with one another in a language the participant did not know well (Spanish Ostracism: SO), or in a language the participant did know well (English Ostracism: EO). SO participants reported feeling less similar than both included and EO participants. SO participants also reported being angrier and expressed more prejudice than included participants (and EO participants using effect size estimates). Results also provided support for the hypothesized serial mediation model. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for intergroup relations.