Decisions in the face of known risks: Ostracism increases risky decision-making

- Ostracism impairs cognition - we asked if it impairs risky decision making.
- We used three methods to assess unconscious and deliberate risky decision making.
- Ostracism impairs deliberate but not unconscious risky decision making.
- Ostracized participants also reported feeling burdensome.
- Feeling ostracized and burdensome and making risky decisions can be detrimental.

Ostracism (being excluded and ignored) can have a negative effect on basic, fundamental needs as well as on higher-order cognitive processes. Decision-making is one such cognitive process that is composed of both unconscious (Type I) and deliberative (Type II) processes. The present studies utilized multiple assessments of the effect of ostracism on Type I and Type II risky decision-making. In two studies, we manipulated ostracism using different paradigms (i.e., Cyberball and Atimia) and then participants completed multiple behavioral measures of risky decision-making. Results indicated ostracism, compared to inclusion, increased risky decision-making on the Iowa Gambling Task and Game of Dice Task, but not the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. These results indicate ostracism likely affects risky decision-making processes.