Having more friends is associated with greater sensitization to social exclusion: neural and behavioral evidence.

ABSTRACT: Social rejection profoundly affects well-being. How do features of people's real-world social networks relate to responses to social exclusion? People central in social networks-e.g. who have many friends-may be less distressed by exclusion, since they have many sources of support, or more sensitive to it, if they are more attuned to social feedback. We characterized a village's social network; a subset of residents (N = 74) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study involving social exclusion in groups characterized by varying social relationships (spouses, friends, strangers). Highly-central individuals reported greater distress during exclusion by strangers, and their distress ratings scaled with responses in brain regions associated with social pain, negative affect

SUBMITTER: Baek EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12342143 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature