Boosting One's Social Identity: Effects of Social Exclusion on Ethnocentrism

The present research examined the effects of social exclusion on ethnocentrism. It was reasoned that expressions of ethnocentrism boost one's social identity, which can serve as a buffer to the thwarted need to belong. In fact, Study 1 revealed that social exclusion, relative to a neutral control condition, increased participant's expressions of ethnocentrism. A second study replicated this finding and showed that social exclusion experiences also increase ethnocentrism relative to a social acceptance and a negative, non-rejection condition. These findings suggest that the effects of social exclusion on ethnocentrism are specific to the thwarted need to belong. Notes 1I also employed a measure of intragroup ethnocentrism, comprising of group cohesion (the belief that one's ingroup should be highly unified) and devotion (loyalty and dedication to one's ingroup), but the experimental conditions did not differ in this regard. Note. df = 72. *p < .05. **p < .01. 2It is conceivable that the effect of social exclusion on ethnocentrism occurred because excluded individuals recalled instances when outgroup members excluded them. That is, the source (ingroup vs. outgroup) of the exclusion experience may have affected the rejected target's expressions of ethnocentrism. In fact, individuals tend to derogate those who reject them (Bourgeois & Leary, Citation2001; Buckley et al., Citation2004; Gonsalkorale & Williams, Citation2007). Coding of the written responses revealed that only two participants explicitly indicated that they were rejected by someone from another ethic/cultural group. The effect of social exclusion on ethnocentrism was almost the same whether these two participants were included or not. Likewise, participants in the social exclusion condition may have recalled the support of other ingroup members while coping with the rejection experience. Although not reported by any of the participants, it may well be that some of them received ingroup support, which led to a particularly favorite view of one's ingroup.