The influence of social exclusion on bystanders’ retaliatory malevolent creativity

Research suggests that social exclusion enhances the retaliatory malevolent creativity of the excluded. However, its influence on the retaliatory malevolent creativity of bystanders, another key group in social exclusion, remains unknown. Two studies were conducted to investigate how social exclusion, particularly when coupled with attacks from excluders or the excluded, shapes bystanders’ retaliatory malevolent creativity. Study 1 and Study 2 recruited 69 and 74 participants, respectively. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned into the social exclusion group or control group. The social exclusion group underwent two blocks of social exclusion manipulation, while the control group experienced two blocks of sham exclusion manipulation. Following each manipulation, participants completed a retaliatory malevolent creative ideation task (MCT) targeting the excluded in Study 1 and excluder in Study 2. Study 1 showed that, only in the second block, the exclusion group exhibited higher MCT performance (fluency, originality, and malevolence) targeting the excluded than the control group. In study 2, the excluded group demonstrated significantly higher MCT performance targeting excluder exclusively in the first block than the control group. This exclusion effect on bystander’s retaliatory malevolent creativity was not mediated by the bystander’s sympathy or aggression. These findings indicate that simply witnessing social exclusion may increase bystanders’ retaliatory malevolent creativity toward both excluder and the excluded. Notably, the timing of this effect varies depending on the target of the MCT task, and its underlying mechanisms may involve factors other than aggression or empathy such as moral disengagement.