On the other side of ostracism: a systematic literature review of the cyberball overinclusion condition

Cyberball, the paradigm developed by Kipling D. Williams and colleagues (2000) to study ostracism, initially counted three experimental conditions: inclusion, exclusion, and overinclusion. The least known of these conditions is overinclusion, a social interaction characterized by excessive social attention (rather than fairness or no attention). This review provides an overview of original empirical studies implementing the overinclusion condition since its development. Following the PRISMA 2020 criteria, studies were drawn from four electronic databases (PubMed, Springer, PsycINFO, Web of Science), and Google Scholar was screened as a web-based academic search engine. In all, 33 studies met the inclusion criteria. Included studies described overinclusion specificities compared with exclusion and inclusion conditions, its effects in paradigms other than Cyberball, brain correlates associated with overinclusion, and its impact on clinical populations. 26 studies compared the inclusion and overinclusion conditions. 20 revealed significant differences between the two conditions, and 13 observed better mood and higher psychological needs satisfaction associated with the overinclusion condition. Studies investigating neural correlates revealed dACC involvement, P3 reduction, and P2 increase during overinclusion, supporting the idea of an ameliorative effect induced by the over-exposition to social stimulation. Findings on clinical populations suggest that overinclusion may help detect the social functioning of patients with psychological impairment. Despite the heterogeneity of the studies, our results showed that overinclusion can be associated with ameliorative psychological functioning. However, implementing standard guidelines for overinclusion will help provide a more thorough investigation of the psychological consequences of receiving excess social attention.