Andrew H Hales
Biographic Data
| ID | 766126 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrew H Hales |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrew H |
| FAMILY NAME | Hales |
| SIGNATURE | HALES A H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Mississippi |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8045-5475 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 75 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
CyberballOS: An Updated, Easily Implemented, Open-Source Virtual Ball-Toss Game to Study Social Interactions
Researchers continually face challenges finding ways to test the fundamentals of psychology: affect, behavior, and cognition. Since 2000, researchers have used a universal tool called Cyberball to investigate these outcomes. Cyberball is a virtual ball-toss game played with computer-controlled players. We updated the Cyberball paradigm, creating CyberballOS (Open Source), to make it require no special resources, have easy-to-set-up games, and rec…
Examining the impact of brief exposure to happy and sad music on ostracism recovery
Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—is a common experience. Although people often seek to recover from this experience, the effectiveness of brief music listening and whether this activity offers benefit beyond distraction are unknown. Thus, this study investigated the effectiveness of short-term exposure to happy and sad music on ostracism recovery relative to other distracting noise. After being ostracized, participants ( N = 561) were randoml…
Navigating Online STEM Courses: Comparing Diverse Student Perspectives at Two Hispanic-Serving Institutions
What Could Have Been: Predicted and Actual Exclusion by Potential Romantic Partners and Platonic Friends
Romantic partners are instrumental to more goals than friends, and therefore, people have more to lose when denied a romantic relationship than a friendship. We explored people's forecasted and experienced rejection by a potential romantic partner or friend. In Study 1, participants ( N = 1500) reported their lay beliefs about which experience would hurt more. Twice as many people indicated that potential romantic (vs. friend) rejection would be …
Openness to being gossiped about: Understanding gossip from the target’s perspective
It is often assumed that, if given the choice, people would prefer not to be gossiped about. We address this assumption by investigating reactions to gossip from the perspective of its potential targets. In two nationally representative samples, we assess whether people are ever open to being the topic of other people's gossip and find a general aversion to being talked about, unless positively. However, some people reliably do prefer to be the f…
Ostracism threatens certainty: A Single-Laboratory Meta-Analysis
Ostracism is well-known to threaten fundamental needs for belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. This article presents theoretical and empirical evidence for an additional, fifth need, threatened by ostracism: the need for certainty. I review the theoretical basis for this need, and meta-analytically summarize evidence from 18 experiments from my research lab that manipulate ostracism and measure the degree to which individual…
From ostracized to pleased: How fair and unfair social exclusion activates schadenfreude
You're leaving us?” Feeling ostracized when a group member leaves
Basic Psychological Needs and Extremism: Understanding Theories Through Meta-Analysis
Extremist attacks pose a dangerous threat to society and past work suggests that many factors can contribute to radicalization. The present project aims to combine literature from multiple theories of radicalization to meta-analyze the association between basic psychological needs and extremism. From 46 articles containing 75 samples, 248 effect sizes were retrieved (N = 30,082). There is not a significant overall association between basic psycho…
Exclusion and Extremism: A Psychological Perspective
The question of how people develop extreme, radical or even terrorist ideas and behaviors is one which is attracting more and more scientific attention. There are many factors that contribute to such extremist attitudes. This book focuses on one specific contributor which has received only little attention in the past: social exclusion. Recent research shows that being kept apart from others, physically or emotionally, is a powerful event in peop…
How social exclusion makes radicalism flourish: A review of empirical evidence
In recent years, researchers of various disciplines have developed many theories to understand the radicalization process. One key factor that may promote radicalization is social exclusion, the state of being kept apart from others. Indeed, experimental studies have provided initial evidence for a relation between exclusion and radicalism. The current review outlines and builds upon these research programs, arguing that social exclusion has been…
Ostracism negatively impacts working self‐perceptions of personality
We examined if being ostracized (excluded and ignored) changes working self‐perception of personality ─ a core aspect of the self ─ which may contribute to understanding post‐ostracism behaviour. Across three studies ( N = 943), using a virtual ball‐toss game (i.e., Cyberball), participants were either ostracized, included or mentally visualized playing the game. Subsequently, participants reported working self‐perceptions of their personality (u…
From Close to Ghost: Examining the Relationship Between the Need for Closure, Intentions to Ghost, and Reactions to Being Ghosted
Ghosting-the act of ending a relationship by ceasing communication without explanation-is a type of ostracism that threatens a person's basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control. The experience of ghosting creates uncertainty within the relationship and may vary based on individual differences in the need for closure, which is the desire to avoid ambiguity. Across three preregistered studies with emer…
Mixing Misery and Gin: The Effect of Alcohol Administration on Ostracism Response
Williams’s need-threat model proposes that ostracism responses are reflexive and, because of their evolutionary significance, difficult to diminish. Alcohol is widely consumed in social contexts and for reasons of coping with social stress, and major theories of alcohol propose that intoxication disrupts cognitive appraisal of environmental threats, leading to stress relief. Surprisingly, though, no well-powered experimental research has examined…
The role of gender and safety concerns in romantic rejection decisions
Navigating Covid-19: Insights from research on social ostracism
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing and lockdowns has caused unprecedented changes to social life. We consider the possible implications of these changes for mental health. Drawing from research on social ostracism emphasizing the importance of social connection for mental well-being, there is reason for concern regarding the mental health effects of the crisis. However, there are also reasons for optimism; people can be surpri…
Stay out of our office (vs. our pub): Target personality and situational context affect ostracism intentions
Ostracized and observed: The presence of an audience affects the experience of being excluded
Does social exclusion hurt more when an audience is present to witness it? Theories of reputation management and evolutionary fitness suggest that an audience would intensify the negative effects of social exclusion. Alternatively, the known benefits of social support suggest that an audience would buffer against the negative effects of exclusion. This question was addressed with two experiments varying the presence of an audience in an online ba…
Who gets ostracized? A personality perspective on risk and protective factors of ostracism
Ostracism, excluding and ignoring others, results from a variety of factors. Here, we investigate the effect of personality on the likelihood of becoming a target of ostracism. Theorizing that individuals low in conscientiousness or agreeableness are at risk of getting ostracized, we tested our hypotheses within 5 preregistered studies: Four experiments investigating participants' willingness to ostracize targets characterized by different person…
Extremism Leads to Ostracism
Ostracism has been shown to increase openness to extreme ideologies and groups. We investigated the consequences of this openness-to-extremity from the perspective of potential ostracizers. Does openness-to-extremity increase one's prospects of being ostracized by others who are not affiliated with the extreme group? Participants rated willingness to ostracize 40 targets who belong to activist groups that vary in the type of goals/cause they supp…
Cell phone-induced ostracism threatens fundamental needs
Cell phones are useful tools with both practical and social benefits. However, using them in the context of face-to-face conversations may be problematic. We consider this behavior a form of ostracism and test its effects on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. In Study 1 participants who recalled a time in which a friend was checking a cell phone during a serious conversatio…
Death as a metaphor for ostracism: Social invincibility, autopsy, necromancy, and resurrection
Metaphors can be powerful tools for theory building in psychological sciences. I entertain death as a theoretical metaphor for ostracism and explore the degree to which they share key properties. Death is universal (we all die), caused (by some things and not others), totally non-functional (the dead cannot do or experience anything) and irreversible (death is permanent). Ostracism, in some of its forms, shares these key properties. These four co…
Marginalized Individuals and Extremism: The Role of Ostracism in Openness to Extreme Groups
Does the experience of being socially ostracized increase interest in extreme groups? Drawing from the temporal need‐threat model of ostracism, and uncertainty‐identity theory, we conducted two experiments testing the hypothesis that compared to included individuals, ostracized individuals will show greater interest in extreme groups. In Study 1, following a recruitment attempt, ostracized participants expressed greater willingness to attend a me…
Prayer, self-affirmation, and distraction improve recovery from short-term ostracism
Does the conclusion follow from the evidence? Recommendations for improving research
Who gets ostracized? A personality perspective on risk and protective factors of ostracism
Ostracism, excluding and ignoring others, results from a variety of factors. Here, we investigate the effect of personality on the likelihood of becoming a target of ostracism. Theorizing that individuals low in conscientiousness or agreeableness are at risk of getting ostracized, we tested our hypotheses within 5 preregistered studies: Four experiments investigating participants' willingness to ostracize targets characterized by different person…
Prayer, self-affirmation, and distraction improve recovery from short-term ostracism
Marginalized Individuals and Extremism: The Role of Ostracism in Openness to Extreme Groups
Does the experience of being socially ostracized increase interest in extreme groups? Drawing from the temporal need‐threat model of ostracism, and uncertainty‐identity theory, we conducted two experiments testing the hypothesis that compared to included individuals, ostracized individuals will show greater interest in extreme groups. In Study 1, following a recruitment attempt, ostracized participants expressed greater willingness to attend a me…
From Close to Ghost: Examining the Relationship Between the Need for Closure, Intentions to Ghost, and Reactions to Being Ghosted
Ghosting-the act of ending a relationship by ceasing communication without explanation-is a type of ostracism that threatens a person's basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control. The experience of ghosting creates uncertainty within the relationship and may vary based on individual differences in the need for closure, which is the desire to avoid ambiguity. Across three preregistered studies with emer…
The role of gender and safety concerns in romantic rejection decisions
Stay out of our office (vs. our pub): Target personality and situational context affect ostracism intentions
Does the conclusion follow from the evidence? Recommendations for improving research
Ostracism threatens certainty: A Single-Laboratory Meta-Analysis
Ostracism is well-known to threaten fundamental needs for belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. This article presents theoretical and empirical evidence for an additional, fifth need, threatened by ostracism: the need for certainty. I review the theoretical basis for this need, and meta-analytically summarize evidence from 18 experiments from my research lab that manipulate ostracism and measure the degree to which individual…
Ostracism negatively impacts working self‐perceptions of personality
We examined if being ostracized (excluded and ignored) changes working self‐perception of personality ─ a core aspect of the self ─ which may contribute to understanding post‐ostracism behaviour. Across three studies ( N = 943), using a virtual ball‐toss game (i.e., Cyberball), participants were either ostracized, included or mentally visualized playing the game. Subsequently, participants reported working self‐perceptions of their personality (u…
A Participant Walks Into a Bar: Subjective Intoxication Buffers Ostracism’s Negative Effects
Alcohol is commonly used to cope with social pain, but its effectiveness remains unknown. Existing theories offer diverging predictions. Pain overlap theory predicts that because alcohol numbs physical pain it should also numb people to the negative effects of ostracism. Alcohol myopia predicts that because alcohol intensifies salient emotions it should enhance the negative effects of ostracism. We conducted a field experiment in a bar, exposing …
You're leaving us?” Feeling ostracized when a group member leaves
Navigating Covid-19: Insights from research on social ostracism
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing and lockdowns has caused unprecedented changes to social life. We consider the possible implications of these changes for mental health. Drawing from research on social ostracism emphasizing the importance of social connection for mental well-being, there is reason for concern regarding the mental health effects of the crisis. However, there are also reasons for optimism; people can be surpri…
Extremism Leads to Ostracism
Ostracism has been shown to increase openness to extreme ideologies and groups. We investigated the consequences of this openness-to-extremity from the perspective of potential ostracizers. Does openness-to-extremity increase one's prospects of being ostracized by others who are not affiliated with the extreme group? Participants rated willingness to ostracize 40 targets who belong to activist groups that vary in the type of goals/cause they supp…
A Participant Walks Into a Bar: Subjective Intoxication Buffers Ostracism’s Negative Effects
Alcohol is commonly used to cope with social pain, but its effectiveness remains unknown. Existing theories offer diverging predictions. Pain overlap theory predicts that because alcohol numbs physical pain it should also numb people to the negative effects of ostracism. Alcohol myopia predicts that because alcohol intensifies salient emotions it should enhance the negative effects of ostracism. We conducted a field experiment in a bar, exposing …
Prayer, self-affirmation, and distraction improve recovery from short-term ostracism
Does the conclusion follow from the evidence? Recommendations for improving research
Cell phone-induced ostracism threatens fundamental needs
Cell phones are useful tools with both practical and social benefits. However, using them in the context of face-to-face conversations may be problematic. We consider this behavior a form of ostracism and test its effects on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. In Study 1 participants who recalled a time in which a friend was checking a cell phone during a serious conversatio…
Death as a metaphor for ostracism: Social invincibility, autopsy, necromancy, and resurrection
Metaphors can be powerful tools for theory building in psychological sciences. I entertain death as a theoretical metaphor for ostracism and explore the degree to which they share key properties. Death is universal (we all die), caused (by some things and not others), totally non-functional (the dead cannot do or experience anything) and irreversible (death is permanent). Ostracism, in some of its forms, shares these key properties. These four co…
Marginalized Individuals and Extremism: The Role of Ostracism in Openness to Extreme Groups
Does the experience of being socially ostracized increase interest in extreme groups? Drawing from the temporal need‐threat model of ostracism, and uncertainty‐identity theory, we conducted two experiments testing the hypothesis that compared to included individuals, ostracized individuals will show greater interest in extreme groups. In Study 1, following a recruitment attempt, ostracized participants expressed greater willingness to attend a me…
Ostracized and observed: The presence of an audience affects the experience of being excluded
Does social exclusion hurt more when an audience is present to witness it? Theories of reputation management and evolutionary fitness suggest that an audience would intensify the negative effects of social exclusion. Alternatively, the known benefits of social support suggest that an audience would buffer against the negative effects of exclusion. This question was addressed with two experiments varying the presence of an audience in an online ba…
Who gets ostracized? A personality perspective on risk and protective factors of ostracism
Ostracism, excluding and ignoring others, results from a variety of factors. Here, we investigate the effect of personality on the likelihood of becoming a target of ostracism. Theorizing that individuals low in conscientiousness or agreeableness are at risk of getting ostracized, we tested our hypotheses within 5 preregistered studies: Four experiments investigating participants' willingness to ostracize targets characterized by different person…
Extremism Leads to Ostracism
Ostracism has been shown to increase openness to extreme ideologies and groups. We investigated the consequences of this openness-to-extremity from the perspective of potential ostracizers. Does openness-to-extremity increase one's prospects of being ostracized by others who are not affiliated with the extreme group? Participants rated willingness to ostracize 40 targets who belong to activist groups that vary in the type of goals/cause they supp…
Navigating Covid-19: Insights from research on social ostracism
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing and lockdowns has caused unprecedented changes to social life. We consider the possible implications of these changes for mental health. Drawing from research on social ostracism emphasizing the importance of social connection for mental well-being, there is reason for concern regarding the mental health effects of the crisis. However, there are also reasons for optimism; people can be surpri…
Stay out of our office (vs. our pub): Target personality and situational context affect ostracism intentions
Mixing Misery and Gin: The Effect of Alcohol Administration on Ostracism Response
Williams’s need-threat model proposes that ostracism responses are reflexive and, because of their evolutionary significance, difficult to diminish. Alcohol is widely consumed in social contexts and for reasons of coping with social stress, and major theories of alcohol propose that intoxication disrupts cognitive appraisal of environmental threats, leading to stress relief. Surprisingly, though, no well-powered experimental research has examined…
The role of gender and safety concerns in romantic rejection decisions
From Close to Ghost: Examining the Relationship Between the Need for Closure, Intentions to Ghost, and Reactions to Being Ghosted
Ghosting-the act of ending a relationship by ceasing communication without explanation-is a type of ostracism that threatens a person's basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control. The experience of ghosting creates uncertainty within the relationship and may vary based on individual differences in the need for closure, which is the desire to avoid ambiguity. Across three preregistered studies with emer…
Exclusion and Extremism: A Psychological Perspective
The question of how people develop extreme, radical or even terrorist ideas and behaviors is one which is attracting more and more scientific attention. There are many factors that contribute to such extremist attitudes. This book focuses on one specific contributor which has received only little attention in the past: social exclusion. Recent research shows that being kept apart from others, physically or emotionally, is a powerful event in peop…
How social exclusion makes radicalism flourish: A review of empirical evidence
In recent years, researchers of various disciplines have developed many theories to understand the radicalization process. One key factor that may promote radicalization is social exclusion, the state of being kept apart from others. Indeed, experimental studies have provided initial evidence for a relation between exclusion and radicalism. The current review outlines and builds upon these research programs, arguing that social exclusion has been…
Ostracism negatively impacts working self‐perceptions of personality
We examined if being ostracized (excluded and ignored) changes working self‐perception of personality ─ a core aspect of the self ─ which may contribute to understanding post‐ostracism behaviour. Across three studies ( N = 943), using a virtual ball‐toss game (i.e., Cyberball), participants were either ostracized, included or mentally visualized playing the game. Subsequently, participants reported working self‐perceptions of their personality (u…
Openness to being gossiped about: Understanding gossip from the target’s perspective
It is often assumed that, if given the choice, people would prefer not to be gossiped about. We address this assumption by investigating reactions to gossip from the perspective of its potential targets. In two nationally representative samples, we assess whether people are ever open to being the topic of other people's gossip and find a general aversion to being talked about, unless positively. However, some people reliably do prefer to be the f…
Ostracism threatens certainty: A Single-Laboratory Meta-Analysis
Ostracism is well-known to threaten fundamental needs for belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. This article presents theoretical and empirical evidence for an additional, fifth need, threatened by ostracism: the need for certainty. I review the theoretical basis for this need, and meta-analytically summarize evidence from 18 experiments from my research lab that manipulate ostracism and measure the degree to which individual…
From ostracized to pleased: How fair and unfair social exclusion activates schadenfreude
You're leaving us?” Feeling ostracized when a group member leaves
Basic Psychological Needs and Extremism: Understanding Theories Through Meta-Analysis
Extremist attacks pose a dangerous threat to society and past work suggests that many factors can contribute to radicalization. The present project aims to combine literature from multiple theories of radicalization to meta-analyze the association between basic psychological needs and extremism. From 46 articles containing 75 samples, 248 effect sizes were retrieved (N = 30,082). There is not a significant overall association between basic psycho…
CyberballOS: An Updated, Easily Implemented, Open-Source Virtual Ball-Toss Game to Study Social Interactions
Researchers continually face challenges finding ways to test the fundamentals of psychology: affect, behavior, and cognition. Since 2000, researchers have used a universal tool called Cyberball to investigate these outcomes. Cyberball is a virtual ball-toss game played with computer-controlled players. We updated the Cyberball paradigm, creating CyberballOS (Open Source), to make it require no special resources, have easy-to-set-up games, and rec…
Examining the impact of brief exposure to happy and sad music on ostracism recovery
Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—is a common experience. Although people often seek to recover from this experience, the effectiveness of brief music listening and whether this activity offers benefit beyond distraction are unknown. Thus, this study investigated the effectiveness of short-term exposure to happy and sad music on ostracism recovery relative to other distracting noise. After being ostracized, participants ( N = 561) were randoml…
Navigating Online STEM Courses: Comparing Diverse Student Perspectives at Two Hispanic-Serving Institutions
Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion (21 works) · Psychology (20 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Ostracism (14 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health (12 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (7 works) · Political science (6 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (5 works)