Discussion
OLP, social pain, psychological disorders, pain
DISORDERS
Pain-overlap theoryFirst, pain-overlap theory refers to pain and not need threat, such that conceptual derivations are proximal for hurt feelings and social pain but require a bit of a stretch for need threat. Second, while need threat often entails an objective referent (e.g., not being part), hurt feelings are fundamentally subjective and therefore more malleable. This is in line with prior research showing that expecting exclusionFinally, while the exact mechanisms of OLP effects are not clear yet, some authors suggest that the rationale could be an important component to induce effectsSeveral limitations to the study deserve mentioning. First, due to feasibility reasons, the aspired sample size of 128 was not achieved. The final sample consisted of 74 participants. With this sample size, only effects bigger than or equal to ηSecond, we cannot rule out the possibility that differences in the duration of the intervention in the OLP compared to the control group and thus differences in attention confounded the effect. In fact, the interaction between experimenter and participant in the OLP group (about 10 min) was 2 min longer than the interaction in the control group (about 8 min). Importantly, Gaab et al.Third, we cannot draw any conclusions regarding the durability of the effects found, because within the study design, only a single OLP intake was administered and assessed for its immediate effects. However, given that the immediate reactions to social exclusion are usually experienced most intensely and are assumed to be difficult to buffer by, for instance, cognitive coping strategiesFourth, healthy individuals could experience social exclusion differently than individuals suffering from psychological disorders, and therefore the results may not generalize to a clinical population. Given that the present results may have particularly relevant implications for individuals suffering from specific psychological disorders, as elaborated next, replicating the present findings in clinical populations is an important step for further research.And finally, one limitation to our results is that the effect of our intervention on hurt feelings may be accounted for by social desirability or demand effects. More specifically, participants in the OLP condition were informed about the expected effect of the OLP and thus might have answered in a way that meets the experimenters’ expectations. However, one argument against such demand effects are our findings on expected social pain reported in the The present findings add a further important piece supporting the general pain-overlap theory. At the same time, they indicate that reflexive reactions to social exclusion are susceptible to moderation, supporting the notion that the construal of social exclusion is best understood as cognitively mediatedIn conclusion, OLP treatments are a promising approach for treating social pain. This is noteworthy because to date, only few strategies to buffer the adverse immediate effects of social exclusion could been identified. The present findings open new avenues for helping people that frequently suffer from social pain, as it might represent a possibility to reduce maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and potentially destructive behaviors.