Re: The Pain of Exclusion

[Guest guest]

All the more reason to become self-sufficient.

Administrator

This was another article from the current Scientific American Mind and this

article is available online. I'll post the link below.

Here are the " Fast Facts " from the article.

1. Even brief episodes of ostracism involving stranger or people we dislike

activate the brain's pain centers, incite sadness and anger, increase stress,

lower self-esteem and rob us of a sense of control.

2. We all feel the pain of ostracism about equality, no matter how tough or

sensitive we are. Personality traits do, however, influence how well we cope.

3. Detecting ostracism quickly increases the likelihood that an individual can

respond in such a way as to stay in a group and, literally or figuratively,

survive the ordeal.

The article says, amongst other things, that humans aren't the only animals to

use ostracism. Many mammal species also practice it. Animals kicked out of the

group have a greater chance of starving or being killed by predators.

Scientists have designed many experiments that show how negatively people react

to being excluded. It does have the effects mentioned in point 1 above. People

can react to this by changing their behavior to be brought back into the group.

Peer pressure is therefore rather more serious than most people think. If a

group is pressuring someone to do something they don't want to but that person

still wants to stay in the group, they are literally being tortured. It also

seems to be an effective way to control that vast majority of people. Make them

feel like the outsider and most will change their behavior to get back in.

Reading this article also made it clear how some people can be pushed over the

edge into bad behavior and even violence. Mind you I'm not saying its an excuse

by any means, just that one can see how it happens.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-pain-of-exclusion