Wanna play? The role of self-construal when using gadgets to cope with ostracism

Abstract

This research investigates how people with different self-construals benefit from social gadgets to cope with ostracism. The Pilot Study showed that an independent self-construal was associated with reports of less loneliness when using social surrogates. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that without access to a gadget, participants with independent self-construal showed more negative affect in response to ostracism compared to inclusion whereas participants with interdependent self-construal did not. When given access to gadgets like a social toy or a social robot, this difference diminished; participants with independent self-construal did not differ in their negative affect between ostracism and inclusion. These results suggest that social gadgets can serve as strategy for coping with ostracism, in particular, among people with an independent self-construal.