INSIGHTS INTO SOCIAL EXCLUSION RESPONSES: THE COGNITIVE UNDERPINNINGS OF ANTI- AND PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIORS – InSER

We rely on experimental and correlational methodologies. We also rely on virtual reality.

In primary school, objective acceptation by peers mediate the link between social class and school achievement.

This work can help to design future interventions.

1. Robert, C.*, Fayant, M.-P., Goudeau, S., & Alexopoulos, T (2022). Un examen préliminaire de l’exclusion sociale chronique à l'école élémentaire, de ses déterminants et de ses conséquences. Fête de la recherche de l’Institut de Psychologie. Paris, Juillet
2. Robert. C*, Fayant, M.-P., Aelenei, C., & Alexopoulos, T. (2022). Développement d'une nouvelle échelle valide des besoins fondamentaux menacés par l'exclusion sociale. « 14e Congrès de Psychologie Sociale », Bordeaux, Juillet
3. Robert, C*, Fayant, M-P, Aelenei, C, & Alexopoulos, T. (2022) Threatened by Social Exclusion: toward a new tool measuring the four fundamental needs. Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology”, San Francisco/Virtual meeting, February.
4. Robert, C.*, Fayant M.-P. (présentatrice), & Alexopoulos, A. (2021). Régulation attentionnelle de l’exclusion sociale. Réunion de la Cognition Sociale sur invitation. Louvain-la- Neuve, Belgique. Octobre.
Fayant, M.-P. (2022). INsights into Social Exclusion Responses: The cognitive underpinnings of anti- and pro-social behaviors. Séminaire invité. Laboratoire INCC, Perception, Action, Cognition : Development & Plasticity Group, Université de Paris Cité, Avril.

The human being has a fundamental need to belong actualized as an essential necessity to form and maintain positive and lasting interpersonal relationships. Fulfilling this need is essential for the individual’s survival and development. Yet, in our modern societies this fundamental need is frequently unmet: Social exclusion is often a response to diversity and many minority groups are victims of this phenomenon. Crucially, it develops early on and can have detrimental consequences. Indeed, research shows that social exclusion predict achievement issues and school disengagement. Problematically, it often fosters anti-social behaviors, spurring further social exclusion and creating a vicious circle. It is therefore crucial to break this dynamic and redirect behavior toward reinclusion. To do so this project for the first time systematically examines the cognitive processes driving responses to social exclusion. Our goal is to break the vicious circle that exists between social exclusion and antisocial behaviors by tuning the cognitive processes producing prosocial responses. We argue that the key levers are situational appraisals which extract social contextual features in terms of relational opportunities and risks. We predict that situations that afford prospects for consecutive exclusion trigger self-protection goals and the enactment of antisocial responses whereas situations that afford potential for reinclusion trigger affiliation goals and the enactment of prosocial responses. The project is structured around three tasks. In Task 1, we will examine early cognitive and affective responses to social exclusion. We anticipate that the prioritization of early anti- vs. prosocial responses depends on initial situational appraisals. Specifically, after exclusion, the prospect for consecutive exclusion facilitates cognitive and affective antisocial responses; while the potential for future inclusion facilitates cognitive and affective prosocial responses. Importantly, we predict that situational appraisals are triggered early on during the social exclusion response, and are automatic in the sense that they do not require any cognitive resources to operate. In Task 2, we will thoroughly investigate the behavioral responses to social exclusion in a controlled Virtual Reality Environment and test whether it is mediated by the activated interpersonal goals of self-protection or affiliation. We expect activated interpersonal goals to mediate the effect of social exclusion on behaviors. Specifically, after exclusion, the prospect for consecutive exclusion activates self-protection goals which, in turn, lead to antisocial behaviors; while the potential for future inclusion activates affiliation goals which in turn lead to prosocial behaviors. Finally, in Task 3, we will use these elements as tools to engineer a training procedure in an applied school context aimed to break the vicious circle of social exclusion and foster achievement among children. We will assess chronic responses to social exclusion and test an innovative way to break the pernicious link between social exclusion and antisocial responses by training children to modify their situational appraisals and interindividual goals. We expect the intervention program to decrease antisocial behaviors, foster prosocial behaviors and alleviate school failure. This endeavor will provide insights for future interventions to set up a virtuous circle instead in cases in which children experience social exclusion.