RESEARCH_FILE
Kipling D. Williams
Purdue University
Known for:Experimental study of ostracism, the Cyberball paradigm, and the temporal need-threat model of being ignored and excluded
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I have to know what's happening there”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“Watching a story doesn't put me in the room. It only tells me the room existed.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Mute one friend's story notifications for tonight, then check tomorrow whether not knowing in real time cost you anything at all.
Key findings
- 2000
Introduced Cyberball and showed that a few minutes of being ignored by two strangers in a trivial online game measurably lowers four fundamental needs: belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. Cyberostracism: Effects of Being Ignored Over the Internet ↗
- 2009
Proposed the Temporal Need-Threat Model: ostracism unfolds in a reflexive stage (immediate, painful, hard to moderate) and a later reflective stage where people appraise the event and work to restore threatened needs. Ostracism: A Temporal Need-Threat Model ↗
- 2011
Reviewing two decades of research, argued that the pain of ostracism is detected rapidly and indiscriminately — it registers even when the exclusion is trivial, brief, or from people you'd otherwise dismiss — consistent with an evolved social-monitoring alarm. Ostracism: Consequences and Coping ↗