How do psychologists induce social exclusion in participants? Psych PhD Chris Cole and cohost Joseph Tajaran discuss 5 ways psychologists have induced feelings of social exclusion in participants. Methods broadly fall into 3 categories: 1) having participants interact other individuals; 2) having participants interact with computer-controlled avatars (who participants believe are real people); 3) written material manipulations (Chris’s favorite). Researchers seem like they have a fun time coming up with creative ways of making people feel awful about themselves :)

Check out the video version of this episode on YouTube.