Ostracism: A Holistic Perspective

Ostracism – being ignored or excluded by one or more others – is a painful social experience. Prior research has focused primarily on the effects of ostracism on the targets, but less focus has been placed on the sources of ostracism. However, it has been found that both targets and sources of ostracism experience negative psychological, cognitive, and emotional effects. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the effects of ostracism on the target and the source, motivations for why humans ostracize, and potential strategies and interventions for minimizing ostracism’s negative effects. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes the interactive and reciprocal nature of ostracism in order to suggest that a holistic approach to ostracism research, rather than looking at target and source experiences as isolated, can lead to a greater understanding of ostracism.