Extremism Leads to Ostracism
Abstract
Abstract. Ostracism has been shown to increase openness to extreme ideologies and groups. We investigated the consequences of this openness-to-extremity from the perspective of potential ostracizers. Does openness-to-extremity increase one’s prospects of being ostracized by others who are not affiliated with the extreme group? Participants rated willingness to ostracize 40 targets who belong to activist groups that vary in the type of goals/cause they support (prosocial vs. antisocial), and the extremity of their actions (moderate vs. extreme). Mixed-effects modeling showed that people are more willing to ostracize targets whose group engages in extreme actions. This effect was unexpectedly stronger for groups pursuing prosocial causes. It appears openness-to-extremity entails interpersonal cost, and could increase reliance on the extreme group for social connection.
References
2006). Why terrorism does not work. International Security, 31, 42–78. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.2006.31.2.42
(2018). The quest for significance: Attitude adaption to a radical group following social exclusion. International Journal of Developmental Science, 12, 25–36. https://doi.org/10.3233/DEV-170230
(2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
(2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5, 323–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323
(2006). Responding to deviance: Target exclusion and differential devaluation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1153–1164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206288720
(2017, February 3). Extreme protest tactics reduce popular support for social movements. Rotman School of Management Working Paper No. 2911177. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=2911177 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2911177
(2018). Marginalized individuals and extremism: The role of ostracism in openness to extreme groups. Journal of Social Issues, 74, 75–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12257
(2017).
(Protect, correct, and eject: Ostracism as a social influence tool . In S. J. HarkinsJ. M. BurgerK. D. WilliamsEds., The oxford handbook of social influence (pp. 205–217). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.2016). Disagreeableness as a cause and consequence of ostracism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 782–797. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167216643933
(2014). The recruitment and radicalisation of western citizens: Does ostracism have a role in homegrown terrorism? Journal of European Psychology Students, 5, 38–48. https://doi.org/10.5334/jeps.bo
(2017). To the fringe and back: Violent extremism and the psychology of deviance. American Psychologist, 72, 217–230. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000091
(2001). Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: The functions of social exclusion. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 187–208. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.187
(2013). Hurting you hurts me too: Psychological costs of complying with ostracism. Psychological Science, 24, 583–588. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612457951
(1998). The catastrophic link between the importance and extremity of political attitudes. Political Behavior, 20, 105–126. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024828729174
(1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 2098–2109. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098
(2015). Ostracism in everyday life: The effects of ostracism on those who ostracize. The Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 432–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2015.1062351
(2019). Ostracism promotes a terroristic mindset. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 11, 134–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2018.1443965
(1995). Attitude strength and resistance processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 408–419. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.3.408
(2019). Who get’s ostracized? A personality perspective on risk and protective factors of ostracism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000271
(2018). Who’s to blame? Dissimilarity as a cue in moral judgments of observed ostracism episodes. Journal of personality and social psychology, 115, 31–53. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000122
(1951). Deviation, rejection, and communication. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46, 190–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0062326
(2007). The importance of non-linear relationships between attitude and behavior in policy research. Journal of Consumer Policy, 30, 70–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-007-9028-3
(2019). Psychological features of extreme political ideologies. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 159–163. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963711418817755
(2010). The potential balm of religion and spirituality for recovering from ostracism. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 7, 31–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766080903497623
(2014). Revisiting Schachter’s research on rejection, deviance, and communication (1951). Social Psychology, 45, 164–169. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000180
(2013). When do we ostracize? Social Psychological & Personality Science, 4, 108–115. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612443386
(2015). The role of burden and deviation in ostracizing others. The Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 483–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2015.1060935
(2014). Statistical power and optimal design in experiments in which samples of participants respond to samples of stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 2020–2045. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000014
(2015). Atimia: A new paradigm for investigating how individuals feel when ostracizing others. The Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 497–514. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2015.1060934
(