The impact of social rejection on human values

Social rejection as a negative interpersonal experience leads to emotional, cognitive, and physiological outcomes. We propose that another possible outcome of social rejection for individuals is the formation of a new order of personal values. In particular, we propose that socially rejected individuals assign higher priority to values with a self-protective nature while giving less importance to self-expansive values (opposing values). In addition, we posit that emotions mediate the relationship between the experience of social rejection and change in value priorities. In particular, the mediating role of emotional distress as a widely emotional outcome of social rejection is articulated. Emotional distress leads to higher emphasis on self-protective values compared to self-expansive values because the former is grounded in uncomfortable feelings, while the latter reflects greater comfort with life. Various moderators can potentially affect the link between social rejection and values.