Testing effects of social rejection on aggressive and prosocial behavior: A meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT: Social rejection elicits profound feelings of distress. From an evolutionary perspective, the best way to alleviate this distress is to behave prosocially, minimizing the likelihood of further exclusion. Yet, examples ranging from the playground to the pub suggest rejection commonly elicits aggression. Opposing theoretical perspectives and discordant empirical results have left a basic question unanswered: does rejection more commonly elicit prosocial or aggressive behavior? We conducted three meta-analyses (one with studies measuring aggressive behavior; one with studies measuring prosocial behavior; and one with studies measuring both aggressive and prosocial behavior; N = 3864) to quantify: (1) the extent to which social rejection elicits prosocial or aggressive behavior and (2) potenti

SUBMITTER: Quarmley M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9519812 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature