SOCIAL OSTRACISM BY COWORKERS - DOES REJECTION LEAD TO LOAFING OR COMPENSATION

A new theoretical model and research paradigm are introduced to invest igate the phenomenon of social ostracism-being ignored by others who a re in one's presence. The authors examined the effects of social ostra cism on individuals' subsequent contributions to a group task. Social leafing typically occurs on collective tasks. However to regain their sense of belonging to the group, authors expected ostracized individua ls to socially compensate-to work harder collectively than coactively. Participants were asked to generate as many uses as they could for an . object, either coactively err collectively with two others who had e ither ostracized or included them in an earlier ball-tossing exchange. Ostracized females socially compensated whereas nonostracized females neither loafed nor compensated. Ostracized and nonostracized males so cially loafed. Based on these data and the accompanying attributional and nonverbal analyses, the authors surmised that males and females in terpret and respond to social ostracism differently.