The Impacts of the Presence of an Unfamiliar Dog on Emerging Adults' Physiological and Behavioral Responses Following Social Exclusion.

Research indicates that non-human attachment figures may mitigate the negative consequences of social exclusion. In the current experiment, we examined how the presence of an unfamiliar companion dog in the laboratory effects physiological and behavioral reactions in female emerging adults after social exclusion compared to inclusion. Results revealed the beneficial effects of the dog: Socially excluded participants in the company of a dog showed less aggressive behavior in response to the hot sauce paradigm compared to excluded participants in the control condition. Furthermore, cardiac responses indicated mitigated perception of threat in a subsequent insult episode when a dog was present. The presence of a dog did not impact the most instantaneous, "reflexive" response to the social exclusion as revealed by characteristic cardiac changes. Together, the findings indicate that the presence of a companion dog takes effect in a later, reflective period following a social exclusion experience, which implicates relevant social elaboration and appraisal processes.

Aggressive behavior after social exclusion is linked with the spontaneous initiation of more action-oriented coping immediately following the exclusion episode.

The experience of social exclusion may provoke prosocial, avoidant, or antisocial (aggressive) behaviors. Multiple situational and personal factors seem to affect which course of action people adopt, and to which degree. The present study examined the relevance of the most spontaneous initiation of more passive, avoidant (disengagement) or action-oriented (engagement) coping immediately following a social exclusion experience to subsequent aggressive behavior. In a sample of n = 85 healthy female students, an ostensible discussion group excluded (versus included) the participant on the basis of her personal traits and preferences. The dynamics of heart rate changes immediately following the social exclusion episode yielded information on the most spontaneous preparation for passive, avoidant coping (sustained heart rate deceleration, indicating temporary behavioral inhibition and vigilance, "freezing") or action-oriented coping (heart rate acceleration, indicating mobilization for action, "fighting"). Aggressive tendencies following social exclusion were assessed using the hot sauce paradigm. On average, social exclusion was followed by heart rate deceleration, indicating the spontaneous drive to avoid directly dealing with the threat (F(time by condition) = 3.3, p = .017, η2 = 0.038). A less pronounced cardiac slowing or even accelerative response to the exclusion, however, was associated with more subsequent aggressive behavior (r = 0.35, p = .023). The results indicate that individual differences in exclusion-related antisocial responding are in part already initiated instantaneously following the exclusion experience, before conscious interpretation and regulation efforts can take effect and modulate the behavioral outcome. The findings point to a potentially important factor that, in concert with other determinants, may explain interindividual differences in changes of social behavior following the experience of social exclusion.

Laughter as a social rejection cue: Influence of prior explicit experience of social rejection on cardiac signs of "freezing".

The study aimed at investigating the immediate cardiac effect of the sudden perception of other people's laughter after experimentally manipulating healthy participants' proneness to experience laughter as a cue of social threat. We expected that participants would show cardiac signs of freezing (i.e., sustained heart rate deceleration immediately after perception of the laughter) after prior social rejection but not or less so after prior acceptance, due to an increased bias to perceive the ambiguous social signal as a cue of social threat and rejection after rejection had been primed. Contrary to expectations, the perception of other people's laughter elicited a decelerative (freezing) response regardless of whether it was preceded by the experience of social rejection or acceptance. The response was prolonged in participants who had been accepted beforehand compared to those who had been rejected. The findings indicate that, given a relevant social context, other people's laughter can be a powerful cue of social threat and rejection also in healthy individuals. Prolonged heart rate deceleration after an ambiguous social signal may facilitate the processing of significant social information in the socially threatening situation. The study adds to the literature rendering the course of the immediate transient heart rate response a useful tool in social rejection research. Additionally, the findings suggested that in some cases the further progress of transient heart rate changes in more extended time-windows (about 30 s) may provide additional relevant information about the processing of social cues.