How and When Exclusion Motivates Social Reconnection

Because fulfilling needs for social connection is so fundamental to health and well-being, people should be highly motivated to restore social connections when they are threatened. This chapter begins by discussing three ways in which people seek to reconnect with others after experiencing social exclusion: (1) ingratiating social behavior, (2) attention toward and sensitivity for social cues, and (3) the activation, exaggeration, and even invention of perceived relationships to important individuals or groups. The chapter then considers how social anxiety and broader concerns with security can heighten people’s focus on self-protection and suppress their willingness to pursue reconnection. The chapter concludes by discussing important directions for future research on how people balance motivations for reconnection and self-protection, as well as on how people regulate their level of social connection more generally.