Effects Of Social Exclusion On Emotional Conflict : The Moderating Role Of Gender

As a social animal,humans are born with a basic need to belong that stems from their evolutionary history.However,the presence of social exclusion prevents individuals from acquiring the need to belong and leads to emotional disturbances.Given the adverse effects of social exclusion,many studies have begun to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying it in an effort to further understand how social exclusion contributes to the development of mood disorders in individuals.Notably,emotional conflict control plays an important role in the development and maintenance of mood disorders,but no research has yet examined whether and how social exclusion affects emotional conflict control.Therefore,this study explores the impact of social exclusion on emotional conflict through the following three questions.First,does and how does social exclusion affect individuals’ emotional conflict resolution? Second,is the effect of social exclusion on emotional conflict disturbed by cognitive conflict? Finally,are there differences in the resolution of cognitive and emotional conflicts among individuals of different genders after experiencing social exclusion?Study 1 used a mixed experimental design of 2(group: social exclusion,social acceptance)× 2(trial consistency: congruent,incongruent)to examine the effects of social exclusion on individual emotional conflict resolution through the face-word Stroop paradigm.Results found that individuals in the social exclusion condition resolved the Stroop task more slowly and produced greater Stroop congruency effects on response times compared to the social acceptance condition,indicating that excluded individuals were less able to resolve emotionally incongruent conflicts.Study 2 used a mixed experimental design of 2(group: social exclusion,social acceptance)× 2(Simon trial: congruent,incongruent)× 2(Stroop trial: congruent,incongruent)to examine the effects of social exclusion on cognitive and emotional conflict resolution within the same trial through an integrated cross-task combining the spatial Simon paradigm and the face-word Stroop paradigm.Results found that there was an interaction between Simon and Stroop trials in the social exclusion condition at response time,with excluded individuals producing smaller Stroop congruency effects when the Simon trial was incongruent compared to the Simon trial was congruent condition.There was no interaction between Simon and Stroop trials in the social acceptance condition.It shows that individuals are influenced by social exclusion,there is an interaction between cognitive conflict and emotional conflict resolution,and the consistency of cognitive conflict influences the ability to resolve emotional conflict.Study 3 used a mixed experimental design of 2(group: social exclusion,social acceptance)× 2(gender: male,female)× 2(Simon trial: congruent,incongruent)× 2(Stroop trial: congruent,incongruent)to further examine the effects of social exclusion on cognitive and emotional conflict resolution within the same trial for individuals of different genders by integrating a crossover task.The results found that there was an interaction between men on Simon trial,Stroop trial,and group at response time;specifically,the interaction between Simon and Stroop trial was significant in the social exclusion condition,and excluded men produced smaller Stroop congruency when the Simon trial was incongruent compared to the Simon trial was congruent condition.The interaction between Simon and Stroop trials was significant in the social acceptance condition,but the Stroop consistency effect was greater for accepted men when the Simon trial was inconsistent compared to the Simon trial was consistent condition.There was no interaction for women on Simon trial,Stroop trial,or group.Gender differences in the resolution of emotional conflict were found in error rates,with significant Stroop trial and group interactions in the male condition and greater Stroop consistency effects for excluded males than for accepted males;Stroop trial and group interactions were not significant in the female condition.These results suggest that males and females are affected differently by social exclusion thus leading to differences in cognitive control tasks.The above three studies led to the following conclusions:(1)Social exclusion hinders individuals’ emotional conflict resolution.Excluded individuals were slower to resolve emotional conflicts and showed greater consistency effects.(2)Social exclusion affects individuals’ resolution of cognitive and emotional conflicts within the same trial.Compared to the cognitive conflict congruency condition,excluded individuals in the cognitive conflict incongruency condition had greater emotional conflict resolution.(3)Gender differences existed in individuals’ resolution of cognitive and emotional conflicts within the same trial in the social exclusion condition.Males showed different conflict resolution abilities in the social exclusion and social acceptance conditions,whereas females did not show such differences.