|
Louisville Courier-Journal Ostracism does mental, physical harm September 15, 2005 Many people recognize bullying -- inflicting abuse physically and verbally, often through loud taunting, teasing and put-downs. But a quiet form of abuse that often goes unnoticed -- and unpunished -- can damage the health of its victims just as bullying does. It is ostracism, the act of excluding or ignoring a person by giving them the silent treatment or cold shoulder. A Purdue University researcher says that ostracism, like bullying, also can do emotional and physical harm. Excluding people from relationships at home, work or school -- acting as if they don't exist -- is "one of the most powerful forms of social punishment," according to Kipling Williams, author of a book on the subject and professor of psychological sciences at Purdue. "You can get away with it too," he said. "If people are physically or verbally abusive, they can be punished. But it's hard to punish someone for not making eye contact or ignoring another person. If confronted, the person can easily deny the accusation." As children and adults displaced by Hurricane Katrina enter new schools, jobs and communities, the consequences of ignoring people are more relevant than ever. Sometimes ostracism is unintentional, Williams said. Temporary employees report that they are frequently ostracized, his research shows. He also said that ostracism might be more potent than ever because many people have smaller families to fall back on or experience less social contact because they stay at home more, belong to fewer groups and do many tasks by computer. "Rather than going shopping with friends, they may order over the Internet," Williams observed. Williams has extensively interviewed people who have experienced ostracism,
studied diaries and conducted tests in which subjects are the unsuspecting
targets of exclusion. "Health problems can run the gamut from cardiovascular to stress-related,"
Williams said. Williams said it is present in the animal kingdom, too, where it is used to increase the group's chance of survival by eliminating the weakest link. Documentaries have shown this to be the case among lions and chimpanzees. "In one documentary a lioness is injured and limping. Immediately, the rest of the lions and her cubs ostracize her," he said. Among humans, both females and males practice ostracism. But there it
is more widely practiced by girls when they are in the primary grades
as a form of indirect aggression. He said some people who use the silent treatment to punish others get addicted to the behavior. But he warned that ostracism has had direr consequences for perpetrators too. They have lost all contact with a family member or a friend. Williams has no illusions that ostracism can be stopped, but he hopes his work in applied science might influence the use of it by parents and school authorities. "Ostracism is one of the most widely used forms of social punishment and some see it as more humane than corporal punishment, as when used in time-out. But there is a deeper psychological impact that needs to be taken seriously. We know that when people are ostracized, it can affect their perceptions, physiological condition, attitude and behavior -- all of which sometimes can lead to aggression. "I'm working on the hypothesis that if you give a child some control over when he can come back from time-out, it can reduce his anti-social reactions," he said. Williams is the author of "Ostracism: The Power of Silence" (Guilford Press, 2001) and co-editor of "The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection and Bullying" (Psychology Press, $75). On Williams' Web site -- www2.psych.purdue.edu/~kip/ -- you can access a cyber ball program that allows participants to experience ostracism. WHAT CAN HAPPEN |