Associate Professor of Psychology Gili Freedman and collaborators recently published an article entitled “From the rejector’s side: What they say, how they feel, and their perception of the rejectee” in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. In this paper, researchers report the results of three experiments on how the language of social rejection relates to the emotional experiences of the rejectors. They found using recommended rejection language principles, such as providing positive regard or a sincere alternative, was associated with rejectors feeling less imposed upon and less self-conscious. However, providing a sincere alternative and using more words in the rejection (another recommended principle) were associated with more emotional drain.
Freedman and another set of collaborators recently published an article for a special issue on Experimenting with Games in the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. In this paper, researchers report the results of four experiments in which participants played a game where they were represented by a dot that they could move around the screen. When other dots on the screen moved away from them, they experienced threats to their basic needs (belonging, control, self-esteem, meaningful existence). These studies suggest that even very minimal social exclusion cues can trigger negative impacts on fundamental needs.
Additionally, Freedman was interviewed for the BBC Radio 4 All in the Mind program for an episode called "The Psychology of Ghosting."
