On Being Ignored: The Effects of the Violation of Implicit Rules of Social Interaction

When people are ignored their expectations as to the type and amount of attention they should receive are not fulfilled. The experience of being ignored was analyzed in terms of violations of some of the implicit rules for social interaction. A technique was developed in which two female confederates systematically ignored female college students in a laboratory setting. The hypothesis that ignored Ss would participate less in the conversation than Ss in the control condition was confirmed. Ss did not react to being ignored by leaving, or expressing anger, but by evaluating themselves and their confederates less favorably than did controls. When given an opportunity to reward one of the confederates, ignored Ss responded by rewarding less than did controls.