MITIGATING THE PAIN OF SOCIAL OSTRACISM THROUGH ACCEPTANCE Zalizniak, Kevin C. Social ostracism, the willful exclusion and ignoring of individuals, almost universally leads to feelings of decreased well-being and self-esteem through a neurobehavioral path similar to that responsible for physical pain (Eisenberger, Jarcho, Lieberman, Naliboff, 2006), negatively impacting overall life satisfaction (Zadro, Williams, and Richardson, 2004). This study aimed to compare the potential therapeutic benefits of acceptance based approaches, used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, to traditional control based approaches, such as thought blocking, in mitigating the pain of social ostracism. Participants were 111 college students. Each participant was randomly assigned to receive a brief acceptance, thought blocking, or visualization exercise before being socially ostracized through a computerized virtual ball toss paradigm. Subjective correlates of pain experience, including anger, general mood, belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence were assessed using a measure developed by Zadro, Williams, and Richardson (2004). Results revealed that participants who had received the acceptance exercise reported significantly more meaningful existence following social exclusion. Results are discussed in the context of previous research on social pain and meaningful existence (incorporating quality of life), as well as future research directions for finding strategies for mitigating the pain of social ostracism. M.S. in Psychology, May 2012 Bach, Patricia 2012-05-09 2012-05 Thesis application/pdf islandora:7273 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/2823 PSYCH / Institute of Psychology Illinois Institute of Technology en In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access