Cyberball

Background

Cyberball is a popular pseudo-multiple player virtual ball-tossing game created by Kipling Williams and colleagues in the early 2000s to study social exclusion ('ostracism') and (over-)inclusion. Under the pretense of studying 'mental visualization skills', participants are told they would join a virtual ball tossing game with other participants, though in reality participants simply play with computer-controlled avatars. The ball tossing can be manipulated in such ways to decrease the frequency of ball tosses to the participant (or any of the other 'players') to induce feelings of social exclusion. It has been found that the experience of being excluded in this virtual game causes real distress and activates brain regions associated with pain, demonstrating the psychological impact of social rejection. The latest Inquisit version available of the game setup is Cyberball5.

Task Procedure

After the participant is given background information on the overt -yet deceptive- study goals (e.g. study 'mental visualization skills') they are made to think that they are matched with a group of other participants for a virtual ball tossing game in which they should all try to mentally visualize and experience the game as if it were real. After a short 'matching' period in which the computer attempts to find other players, the participant sees a number of computer avatars (usually 3 to 9) on the screen that are tossing a ball. The avatars can have names and images or just labels. Once the participant (e.g. 'Player 2') receives the ball, they can decide via mouse click to toss the ball to any of the other avatars. Depending on the goal of the study, the initially fair ball tossing frequencies can be manipulated to exclude (or over-include) one of the players.

What it Measures

Cyberball is a tool to induce feelings of social exclusion and rejection in a controlled environment. Additional measures are usually needed to assess the impact of this exclusion experience, e.g. self-report measures or brain imaging (fMRI) to map neural responses to social pain.

Psychological domains

• Ostracism: Response to potential social exclusion of self or others
• Empathy: Response to potential social exclusion of others
• Self-esteem: Feelings of worthiness and being liked

Main Performance Metrics

• Number of Throws: The computer tracks the number of ball tosses of the participant to each player

Psychiatric Conditions

Social Exclusion generally affects all people but it has been shown that the following group of people are particularly affected:

• Major Depressive Disorder
• Social Anxiety
• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)