Barriers to belonging: influences of social exclusion beyond group relations

Abstract Social exclusion has been widely studied with a focus on group-related ostracism that leads to immediate negative outcomes in mood and social needs. However, less psychological research has addressed exclusion arising from broader contextual conditions—such as structural, institutional or environmental barriers. This study applied a diversity science perspective and adapted the virtual ball-tossing-game “Cyberball” in an online experiment to examine whether structural barriers produce similar negative affective reactions as group-related exclusion. Based on Williams’ temporal need-threat model and the corresponding scales, we found that social exclusion in a Cyberball game was associated with impairments in basic social needs—belonging, meaningful existence, control, and self-esteem—as well as a decrease in participants’ mood, not only in cases of group-related ostracism but also when a structural barrier was present. In addition, structural barriers were perceived as even more insurmountable after exclusion compared to a baseline, while inclusion showed the opposite pattern. The results provide a foundation for future research and introduce a new adaptation of the Cyberball paradigm that may help to explore the consequences of various types of structural exclusion.