Changes In Women's Self-concern Under Social Exclusion: The Moderating Role Of Secure Attachment

Williams’ needs threat model points out that when individuals experience social exclusion,relationship needs(sense of belonging and self-esteem)and efficacy needs(sense of existence and control)are threatened(Williams,2007).When the relationship needs of individuals are more threatened,the level of self-concern decreases;when the effectiveness needs of individuals are more threatened,the level of self-concern increases(Wang Ziwei et al.,2014).The purpose of this study is to explore whether idiosyncratic secure attachment can play a regulatory role between social exclusion and implicit self-concern,and whether secure attachment can compensate for the influence of two social exclusion situations on implicit self-concern level for insecure attachment individuals(anxiety type).Two experiments were designed in this study.The first experiment was to explore the influence of different types of social exclusion and attachment on the level of implicit self-concern.90 female college students from a university in Nanjing were recruited as the subjects,45 for safety type and 45 for anxiety type.3(rejection type: neglect / rejection / acceptance)× 2(attachment type: safety type / anxiety type)was used in the design.On the basis of experiment one,experiment two explored the influence of safe attachment initiation and social exclusion types on the implicit self-care level of insecure attachment individuals(anxiety type).90 female college students with anxiety attachment type were randomly selected as subjects,and 3(rejection type: neglect / rejection / acceptance)× 2(safe attachment start: start group / neutral control group)subjects were designed.Results:(1)The results of Experiment 1 showed that the interaction between social exclusion type and attachment type was significant: in the neglect group,the level of anxiety type self-concern was significantly higher than that of safety type,in the rejection group,the anxiety type was significantly lower than that of safety type,and there was no significant difference between the anxiety type and safety type in the acceptance group.For the anxiety type subjects,the neglect group was significantly higher than the acceptance group,and the rejection group was significantly lower than the acceptance group;for the security type attachment individuals,there was no significant difference among the three groups.The main effect of social exclusion type on the level of implicit self-concern is significant,while the main effect of attachment type on the level of implicit self-concern is not significant.(2)The results of Experiment 2 showed that the interaction between initiation and rejection types was significant.In the rejection group,the self-care level of the safe attachment initiation group was significantly higher than that of the neutral control group,while in the neglect group,there was no significant difference between the safe attachment initiation group and the neutral control group;in the safe attachment initiation group,the self-care level of the rejection group and the acceptance group was no significant difference,while that of the neglect group was significant Higher than the acceptance group.The main effect of social exclusion type is significant: regardless of whether safety attachment is initiated or not,the neglect group is significantly higher than the acceptance group,and the rejection group is significantly lower than the acceptance group.The main effect of priming was also significant: no matter which type of rejection,there was a significant difference between the safe attachment priming group and the neutral control group.Conclusion:In the female group,the type of social exclusion influences the level of implicit self-concern,while the type of neglect increases the level of self-concern,while the type of rejection reduces the level of self-concern;the type of idiosyncratic safe attachment can adjust the impact of two types of social exclusion.The type of safe attachment starts at the level of rejection Absolute social exclusion can compensate for the influence of implicit self-concern,but it can’t compensate for the influence of neglect social exclusion on implicit self-concern.