The Age Differences Of The Moderation Effect Of Group Identity Between Social Exclusion And Cooperative Behavior

Social exclusion refers to the phenomenon and process in which belonging and social relationship are threaten due to being excluded or rejected by a social group or others.Belonging is a basic human need,and threat to belonging can cause social pain.On the one hand,social exclusion has negative consequences.For example,social exclusion increases aggression and reduces helpful behavior toward the excluder.On the other hand,social exclusion motivates individuals to acquire reconnection.Exploring the influence of social exclusion on cooperative behavior is of great practical significance to study the coping strategies of individual social exclusion events and guide the excluded individuals to reduce the harm caused by social exclusion in a positive wayIn the face of social exclusion,if there is still a chance for them to be re-accepted in the current environment,individuals may establish or strengthen social ties through prosocial behaviors to satisfy their sense of belonging.Compared with out-group members,children and adults are more willing to cooperate with in-group members.The reason for this phenomenon is that individuals think in-group members are more trustworthy and members of the same group are mutually beneficial.Therefore,in-group identity can serve as a kind of social information to provide a basis for judging the possibility of acceptance.Now there are a large number of research focus on social influence on behavior,but few studies have considered the moderation role of group identities between the relationship.In addition,most studies choose adults as research object,few studies have focused on social exclusion impact on children’s social behavior directly.With the increasing social interaction,peer relationship becomes increasingly important in children’s lives.Children can not only perceive social exclusion,and they can also be affected by the social exclusion.If children fail to adopt effective ways to deal with social exclusion,they may continue to be excluded.This kind of negative social interaction pattern may continue to affect cognitive and behavior in adulthood.This study was divided into three studies.Participants were divided into groups by color square estimation task,and then manipulated the sense of exclusion by using Cyberball paradigm to investigate the differences of individuals’ cooperative behaviors in public goods games under different conditions.In the first study,151 college students and primary school students participated in the experiment.To investigate the effect of social exclusion on individual cooperative behavior and the moderating role of partner group identity and age differences,the 2(between subjects;exclusion condition: control group,exclusion group)×2(between subjects;age: children,adult)×3(in subject;partner group identity: in-group,out-group,unknown group)mixed experimental design was used.In the second study,155 college students and primary school students participated in the experiment.Using 2(between subjects;exclusion condition:control group,exclusion group)× 2(between subjects;age: children,adults)× 3(in subject;partner group identity: in-group,out-group,unknown group)mixed experimental design,we examined the moderating effect of partner’s group identity on the relationship between social exclusion and cooperative behavior,and the age differences in the context of out-group interaction.In the third study,163 college students and primary school students participated in the experiment.Using 2(between subjects;exclusion condition: control group,exclusion group)×2(between subjects;age: children,adults)×3(in subject;partner group identity: in-group,out-group,unknown group)mixed experimental design,we examined the moderating effect of partner’s group identity on the relationship between social exclusion and cooperative behavior,and the age differences in the context of in-group interaction.The main research results are as follows:(1)When the group identity of the partner is unknown,social exclusion has no significant effect on the cooperative behavior of college students,but decreases cooperative behavior of primary school students.(2)Under the background of out-group interaction,social exclusion increases cooperation of college students with in-group members,and decreases cooperation with out-group members.Out-group exclusion decreases cooperation of primary school students with in-group members.(3)Under the background of in-group interaction,social exclusion decreases the cooperation of college students with out-group members,but it has no significant effect on their cooperation with in-group members.In-group exclusion decreases cooperation of primary school students with in-group members.To sum up,this study shows that social exclusion has a complex effect on cooperative behavior.Adults who were excluded to increase cooperation with in-group members,in order to obtain acceptance,reduce negative feelings of social exclusion.However,in-group exclusion destroys individual’s positive attitude toward his or her group.When the individual is excluded by in-group members,this pro-group tendency disappears.However,among children,the level of cooperation of the excluded children decreases regardless of whether the partner is in-group member or out-group member.This difference in age may be due to the fact that children’s self-regulation function is still in development,while adults can effectively self-regulate and deal with negative events such as social exclusion in a more effective way.Therefore,this study enlightens us,in adults,brief or a slight social exclusion would make them pay more attention to the external environment clues,and then select the appropriate actions to change the current situation.Childhood is an important stage of development,affecting later psychological behavior and adaptation.After social exclusion,most children interact negatively with others in a way that may cause them to be excluded again,forming a vicious circle.In real life,we should not only prevent social exclusion,but also pay more attention to children who are socially excluded,guide them to deal with it in the right way,avoid being excluded again,and improve their adaptability.