2020/08/11 by S Lutz, Frank M. Schneider · 2 citations
Psychology · Arts and Humanities · #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health #Media Influence and Health
paper · doi:10.1080/15213269.2020.1799409
openalex publication_date 2020/08/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
When posting content in social media, users can feel excluded due to lacking (cyber-ostracism) or negative (cyber-rejection) feedback. Referring to the temporal need-threat model, this study examined the impact that both exclusion experiences have on social media users’ need threat and on their online coping behavior to fortify threatened needs. For this purpose, a pre-registered between-subjects experiment (N = 211) was conducted by manipulating the type of social exclusion on three levels (ostracism; rejection; inclusion). Results indicated that both types of exclusion threatened media users’ needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control. Compared to ostracized users, rejected ones were more threatened in their needs for belonging and self-esteem, but equally threatened in their needs for meaningful existence and control. Regarding social media users’ coping behavior, ostracized users showed more prosocial behavior, whereas rejected ones rather withdrew from social interactions. Material, code, and data can be found at https://osf.io/3daxq/.