OST-B5-01

Previous studies found socially excluded individuals to differ from included individuals in their perception of personality traits conveyed by facial cues. Most importantly, their view of various facial personality traits became more differentiated and their preference for the assessed trait extraversion changed. The six hypotheses put forth in this study predict various differences in preference for the facial Big Five traits between socially included and excluded individuals, as well as more discriminatory perceptions of these traits by excluded individuals. In an online survey, participants (106) played cyberball and then repeatedly chose between images of faces showing extreme trait expressions and rated these images in respect to the corresponding trait. The results do not support any hypotheses, raising questions about the state of research in this area which are discussed, and ideas for further steps are highlighted.