Department of Psychology, University of Milan - Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
NeuroMI: Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy.
PLoS One. 2018 Apr 4;13(4):e0195100. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195100. eCollection 2018.
Social exclusion is a painful experience that is felt as a threat to the human need to belong and can lead to increased aggressive and anti-social behaviours, and results in emotional and cognitive numbness. Excluded individuals also seem to show an automatic tuning to positivity: they tend to increase their selective attention towards social acceptance signals. Despite these effects known in the literature, the consequences of social exclusion on social information processing still need to be explored in depth. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of social exclusion on processing two features that are strictly bound in the appraisal of the meaning of facial expressions: gaze direction and emotional expression. In two experiments (N = 60, N = 45), participants were asked to identify gaze direction or emotional expressions from facial stimuli, in which both these features were manipulated. They performed these tasks in a four-block crossed design after being socially included or excluded using the Cyberball game. Participants' empathy and self-reported emotions were recorded using the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and PANAS questionnaires. The Need Threat Scale and three additional questions were also used as manipulation checks in the second experiment. In both experiments, excluded participants showed to be less accurate than included participants in gaze direction discrimination. Modulatory effects of direct gaze (Experiment 1) and sad expression (Experiment 2) on the effects of social exclusion were found on response times (RTs) in the emotion recognition task. Specific differences in the reaction to social exclusion between males and females were also found in Experiment 2: excluded male participants tended to be less accurate and faster than included male participants, while excluded females showed a more accurate and slower performance than included female participants. No influence of social exclusion on PANAS or EQ scores was found. Results are discussed in the context of the importance of identifying gaze direction in appraisal theories.
社会排斥是一种痛苦的体验，被视为对人类归属感的威胁，可能导致攻击性和反社会行为增加，并导致情感和认知麻木。被排斥的个体似乎也表现出对积极性的自动调整：他们倾向于增加对社会接纳信号的选择性注意。尽管文献中已知这些影响，但社会排斥对社会信息处理的后果仍需要深入探讨。本研究旨在探讨社会排斥对处理面部表情意义评估中两个紧密结合的特征的影响：注视方向和情绪表达。在两项实验中（N = 60，N = 45），参与者被要求从面部刺激中识别注视方向或情绪表达，其中这两个特征都被操纵。他们在使用 Cyberball 游戏进行社交包含或排斥后，以四组交叉设计进行这些任务。参与者的同理心和自我报告的情绪使用同理心商数（EQ）和 PANAS 问卷进行记录。需要威胁量表和另外三个问题也被用作第二个实验中的操纵检查。在两项实验中，被排斥的参与者在注视方向辨别任务中的准确性都低于被包含的参与者。直接注视（实验 1）和悲伤表情（实验 2）对社会排斥效应的调节作用在情绪识别任务的反应时间（RT）上表现出来。实验 2中还发现了男性和女性对社会排斥的反应的特定差异：被排斥的男性参与者的准确性和速度都低于被包含的男性参与者，而被排斥的女性参与者的准确性和速度都低于被包含的女性参与者。社会排斥对 PANAS 或 EQ 分数没有影响。结果在识别评价理论中注视方向的重要性的背景下进行了讨论。
