The effect of ostracism on risk-taking

Newton, Joseph 2025. The effect of ostracism on risk-taking. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Ostracism, defined as being ignored or excluded by an individual or group, is a ubiquitous social phenomenon that threatens key psychological needs. Prior research has shown that ostracism elicits diverse behavioural responses, including aggression, prosocial behaviour, and social withdrawal, however, little research has examined whether ostracism leads to risky decision-making. This thesis presents a series of studies examining how both the experience of ostracism and the recollection of past ostracism influences changes in risky decision-making, and what individual differences moderate these effects. In experiment one, I used a social influence health risk perception task to examine how recalling an experience of ostracism influenced perceptions of health risks. I also investigated how exposure to peer-provided risk ratings shaped participants’ adjustments in their own risk perceptions. In experiment two, I tested how ostracism impacted risk-taking behaviours in a rewards-based task. I further explored how peer behaviours and individual differences, such as rejection sensitivity moderated participants’ decision-making processes. In experiment three, I adapted a behavioural paradigm previously used to induce heightened affective judgements to test how recalling ostracism influences risk and benefit perception across distinct risk domains (health, financial and social). In studies four and five, I extend these findings to test how recalling ostracism influences how individuals learn and respond to wins and losses (feedback sensitivity) in two novel reward gambling paradigms and investigate what individual differences moderate these effects. The findings of this thesis identify ostracism as a significant predictor of risk-taking and susceptibility to peer influence, while underscoring the role of several crucial individual differences in moderating these effects. I then finish with a discussion of the implications of these findings for psychological interventions, educational settings, and future research directions.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2025 14:32
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181198

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