Script Author: Sean Draine, PhD
Last Modified: January 19, 2024 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements the Cyberball paradigm.
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W. (2000). CyberOstracism: Effects of being ignored over the Internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 748-762.
Williams, K. D., & Jarvis, B. (2006). Cyberball: A program for use in research on ostracism and interpersonal acceptance. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 38, 174-180.
See also: https://www1.psych.purdue.edu/~willia55/Announce/cyberball.htm
4 minutes
Participant plays ball with 2 other participants (= the computer). It can be predefined with what probability the computer includes/excludes the participant into the ball game.
• Participant plays ball with 2 other players for 50 trials.
The number of trials can be edited under section EDITABLE PARAMETERS.
• By default, all players are represented by names and pictures.
Names and pictures can be edited under section EDITABLE STIMULI.
To remove names or pictures go to EDITABLE PARAMETERS.
• By default, player 1 throws the ball to participant (= player 2) with a pre-determined probability (default: 25% of the times)
as does Player 3 (default: 25% of the times). The probabilities can be edited under section EDITABLE LISTS.
The player schedules can further be customized to dictate specific/fixed throw sequences for each of the
"computer player". Go to section EDITABLE LISTS for further instructions.
• Decision Times for Player 1 and 3 are controlled by list.cyberdecisiontime.nextValue under
EDITABLE PARAMETERS.
picture examples are provided by Millisecond. They can easily be edited under section
Editable Stimuli
can be edited under section Editable Instructions
File Name: 3playercyberball_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
Parameter Settings |
|
| showPictures | True = pictures of players are onscreen (default) false = no pictures are presented |
| showLabels | True = labels of players are onscreen (default) false = no labels are presented item.player1.1- |
| item.player3Label.1 | Images and labels used for the various players |
Data |
|
| maxTrialCount | Maximum number of trials (= passes between all players) played |
| ignore2Streak1 | The number of times player 2 (participant) was ignored before player2 (participant) gets to respond for the first time |
| maxIgnore2 | The longest streak of ignoring player 2 (participant) in the game that participant experienced before being able to respond |
| countPlayer1throws | Counts the number of times that player 1 gets to throw the ball |
| countPlayer3throws | Counts the number of times that player 3 gets to throw the ball |
| countPlayer2throws | Counts the number of times that participant gets to throw the ball |
| meanRTPlayer2 | Mean latency (in ms) of participant throw |
| count12 | Counts the number of times that player 1 throws to player 2 (participant) |
| percent12 | Percentage of player 1 throws that play to player 2 (participant) |
| count21 | Counts the number of times that player 2 (participant) throws to player 1 |
| percent21 | Percentage of player 2 throws (participant) that play to player 1 |
| meanRT21 | Mean latency (in ms) of player 2 (participant) decisions to throw to player 1 |
| count32 | Counts the number of times that player 3 throws to player 2 (participant) |
| percent32 | Percentage of player 3 throws that play to player 2 (participant) |
| count23 | Counts the number of times that player 2 (participant) throws to player 3 |
| percent23 | Percentage of player 2 throws (participant) that play to player 3 |
| meanRT23 | Mean latency (in ms) of player 2 (participant) decisions to throw to player 3 |
| percentSamePlayer | Percentage of player 2 (participant) throws when player 2 throws the ball back to the player who threw the ball to participant random selection -> 1/2 times of all player 2 throws |
| percentOtherPlayer | Percentage of player 2 (participant) throws when player 2 throws ball to the player who didn't threw the ball to participant random selection -> 1/2 times of all player 2 throws |
| meanRTSamePlayer | Mean latency (in ms) of trials in which player2 (participant) throws ball back to the player who threw the ball to participant |
| meanRTOtherPlayer | Mean latency (in ms) of trials in which player2 (participant) throws ball to the player who didn't threw the ball to participant |
File Name: 3playercyberball_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| blockCode | Name of the current block |
| blockNum | Number of the current block |
| trialCode | Name of the current trial |
| trialNum | Number of the current trial |
| player | Stores the current player (1, 2, 3) |
| recipient | Stores the recipient of the current ball toss (1, 2, 3) |
| response | The (participant's) response |
| latency | The response latency in ms |
| countIgnore2 | Counts how often player 2 (participant) was "ignored" before a throw (resets every time player 2 gets to throw the ball) |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| maxTrialCount | Maximum number of trials (= passes between the players) played | |
| showPictures | True = pictures of players are onscreen (default) false = no pictures are presented | |
| showLabels | True = labels of players are onscreen (default) false = no labels are presented parameters.showpictures and parameters.showlabels cannot be set to false at the same time. | |
| cyberdecisiontime | Selects with replacement (replace) one of the 4 decision times for players1 and 3 |