Ostracism and Antisocial Behavior: The Role of Perceived Justice, Entitlement, and Anger

<p>Recent research has demonstrated that antisocial behavior following a general ostracism experience is mediated by increased feelings of entitlement (Poon, Chen, & DeWall, 2013) and anger (Chow, Tiedens, & Govan, 2008). However, this prior research has failed to determine whether ostracism in general leads to antisocial behavior, or only ostracism that is perceived of as unfair or unjust. The purpose of the current study was to manipulate the perceived fairness of the ostracism experience (fair or unfair) and assess participants’ antisocial behavioral intentions (i.e., dishonest intentions). It was hypothesized that an unfair ostracism experience (compared to a fair ostracism or control experience) would lead to more antisocial behavior, specifically dishonest behavioral intentions, which would be mediated by increased feelings of anger and entitlement. In two studies, participants completed an essay task to prime an ostracism experience (fair or unfair) or a negative control experience on a between-participants basis, and then completed measures assessing their sense of entitlement, feelings of anger, and likelihood of behaving dishonestly. Contrary to our hypotheses, unjust ostracism participants did not report greater dishonest behavioral intentions, anger, or sense of entitlement compared to just ostracism and control participants. Interestingly, however, Study 1 found that <em>just</em> ostracism may actually decrease dishonest intentions and Study 2 demonstrated that ostracism, in general, results in an increase in other-directed, but not self-directed, anger. We provide potential theoretical explanations for our unsupported predictions as well as unanticipated significant findings.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Lustgraaf, Christopher Jeffrey Nathanael

Contributors dc:contributor

• Donald Sacco
• Richard Mohn
• Michael Bernstein

• ostracism
• antisocial behavior
• entitlement
• anger
• injustice
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/122

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1127