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Ghosting, or ignoring someone to end a relationship, is often considered a harmful aspect of growing digital connectivity. However, research on ghosting has focused on the experiences of European/European Americans in romantic contexts. Thus, we broadly explored experiences of being ghosted among 29 undergraduates primarily from underrepresented populations (75.9% Latinx, 6.9% Asian, 6.9% Black) in the United States. We conducted face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews regarding general experiences with being ghosted, a memorable experience of being ghosted, and attitudes toward ghosting. Inductive thematic analysis yielded eight themes surrounding the process of being ghosted (Sensing Shifts in Communication Patterns), ghosting attributions (Unreciprocated Feelings, Incompatibility), responses to ghosting (Stages of Grief, Various Coping Methods, Lost Respect for Ghoster, Insight from Experiencing Both Sides), and ghosting attitudes (Good Reasons). Future research might examine the role of both individual (e.g., cultural values) and situational (e.g., ghosting circumstance) factors in various trajectories of ghosting responses, as well as the psychological consequences of these trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic impeded social interaction, negatively affecting well‐being worldwide. To slow virus spread, practices were enacted to minimize face‐to‐face contact, leading to increased social disconnection. As people turned increasingly to online environments (e.g., social media) to fulfill needs for inclusion and belonging, misinformation regarding COVID‐19 simultaneously ran rampant. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether impeded social inclusion may have contributed to the spread of misinformation. We recruited a sample of adult social media users in the United States (N = 431) and randomly assigned them to be either included, ostracized (i.e., ignored), or rejected (i.e., to receive explicitly negative attention). Participants subsequently rated their willingness to share COVID‐19 claims via social media (in fact, all claims were false). Participants learned that sharing some claims would likely lead to high expected engagement from others on social media (e.g., "likes"), whereas some claims would likely lead to little expected engagement. While information sharing was low in our sample, participants were more willing to share claims that they believed would lead to higher levels of engagement—consistent with the idea that sharing information is motivated not only by the desire to educate others but also to elicit social connection. However, this behavioral intention was no more common among participants who had been momentarily ostracized or rejected online than among participants who had been included. Future research should continue to explore the link between social exclusion and the motivation to disseminate (mis)information beyond a pandemic‐related context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Non-medical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) has reached epidemic proportions. • We investigated stress responses to social rejection in persons with chronic NMPOU. • High opioid craving was associated with worse parasympathetic response to social stress. • NMPOU group displayed increased neuroendocrine stress response to social exclusion. • Physiological stress responses are likely dysregulated by chronic NMPOU. Abstract Non-medical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) recently increased dramatically, especially in the U.S. Although chronic opioid use is commonly accompanied by deficits in social functioning and dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenergic (HPA) stress axis, little is known about the impact of NMPOU on psychosocial stress responses. Therefore, we measured physiological responses of the autonomic nervous system and the HPA axis to social rejection using the Cyberball paradigm. We compared 23 individuals with NMPOU, objectively confirmed by hair and urine analyses, with 29 opioid-naïve, healthy controls. As expected, heart rate variability (HRV), an index of parasympathetic activity, increased significantly during exclusion within controls, while in the NMPOU group only a trend in the same direction was found. However, increased HRV was robustly moderated by opioid craving indicating worse emotion regulation to social exclusion specifically in individuals with high opioid craving. Greater levels of the adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol responses to social rejection were found in the NMPOU group indicating hyperreactivity of the HPA axis to social exclusion. Self-ratings suggest that opioid users were aware of rejection, but less emotionally affected by exclusion. Furthermore, controls showed greater negative mood after the Cyberball confirming the task's validity. Moreover, NMPOU individuals reported a smaller social network size compared to controls. Present findings suggest that chronic NMPOU is associated with dysfunctional physiological responses to psychosocial stressors such as social rejection. In sum, NMPOU was associated with poorer regulation of the parasympathetic nervous system, especially under opioid craving highlighting its potential importance in relapse prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research examined some of the person and situation factors that contribute to counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). More specifically, this research examined the unique and interactive effects of perceived workplace exclusion and personality, as measured via the NEO-FFI, on two types of CWB: interpersonal and organizational. Participants included 105 employees from a mid-sized Midwestern utility company in the US. All employees completed a Workplace Experiences Survey. As predicted, exclusion via co-workers was related to interpersonal forms of CWB, whereas, exclusion by supervisors was related to organizational CWB. Support was also obtained for several of the predicted interactions between workplace exclusion and personality on CWB such that the relation between exclusion and CWB was strongest for employees whose personality exhibited less behavioural constraint. Results are discussed in terms of their implications, limitations, and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current investigation uses autoethnographic self-reflective accounts to explore the intricacies and challenges of teaching and researching human sexuality topics by an assistant professor in a major university in the United States. Self-reflective accounts, derived from the author's personal documents, such as diary entries, personal recollections, and correspondence, constitute the primary data resource for the present study. The major premise behind the development of the proposed autoethnographic coding system involves the consistent and persistent searching of the data for patterns of significance. As the author/subject read and re-read his personal documents, certain words, phrases, patterns of behavior, ways of thinking, and events, related to his teaching, research, and collegial interactions in his department, repeated themselves and stood out. He then was able to group these highly identifiable topics of significance into autoethnographic-coding categories referred to as themes and by-themes. The emerging themes and by-themes were then carefully recorded and analyzed to ensure validity and reliability. Some of them include: oppressive-liberal sexual ideological continuum, cultural differences, rigid hierarchical administrative structure, power abuse and imbalances, personal ostracism, formal sanctions, sexual harassment, and sexual humor. Results indicate that amidst the liberal sexual ethics, politics, standards, and practices of today, teaching and researching human sexuality topics continues to pose considerable challenges, controversies, and even threats for beginner teachers and researchers of institutions of higher learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological models of the consequences of ostracism (i.e. being socially excluded and ignored) and negative symptoms in schizophrenia suggest that repeatedly experiencing ostracism can lead to elevated levels of amotivation, anhedonia, and asociality (i.e. negative symptoms). We tested this assumption in a prospective study, following up a large multi-national community sample from Germany, Indonesia, and the United States (N = 962) every four months over one year. At each of the four assessment points (T0 - T3), participants rated their recent ostracism experiences and negative symptoms. Using cross-lagged panel analyses we found a) that negative symptoms and experiences of ostracism were significantly associated in each of the four assessment points, b) that ostracism predicted negative symptoms over time (T2 to T3), and c) that negative symptoms increased ostracism (T0 to T1). The results are in line with the social defeat model of negative symptoms and suggest a bi-directional longitudinal relationship between ostracism and negative symptoms. Moving forward, it will therefore be important to gain an understanding of potential moderators involved in the mechanism., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)