Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2011

Abstract

There is little empirical research to date that looks at how the deleterious effects of social exclusion can be mitigated. We examined how touching an inanimate object—a teddy bear—might impact the effect of social exclusion on prosocial behavior. Across two studies, we found that socially excluded individuals who touched a teddy bear acted more prosocially as compared to socially excluded individuals who just viewed the teddy bear from a distance. This effect was only observed for socially excluded participants and not for socially included (or control) participants. Overall, the findings suggest that touching a teddy bear mitigates the negative effects of social exclusion to increase prosocial behavior. In Study 2, positive emotion was found to mediate the relationship between touch and prosocial behavior. These results suggest a possible means to attenuate the unpleasant effects of social exclusion.

Keywords

social exclusion, touch, pro-social behavior, dictator game

Discipline

Organizational Behavior and Theory | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Volume

2

Issue

6

First Page

618

Last Page

626

ISSN

1948-5506

Identifier

10.1177/1948550611404707

Publisher

SAGE

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550611404707

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