Differences between Gay Men and Heterosexual Participants in Working Memory after Social Exclusion

Introduction. Many studies indicated people report strong negative effects after few minutes of exclusion, such as negative mood and low levels of basic psychological need satisfaction. Literature showed belongingness to a stigmatized racial group amplified reactions to exclusion. The goals of our work are (1) to examine whether increased sensitivity to social exclusion found in racially stigmatized groups also extends to sexual orientation stigma and (2) to examine whether belongingness to a sexually stigmatized group could moderate the negative impact of exclusion on a basic executive function such as working memory capacity (WMC). Method. The sample consisted of 44 gay men and 44 heterosexual men. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 30 (M= 23.44, SD = 3.21). Half of both gay and heterosexual participants were assigned or to the exclusion or to the inclusion condition by Cyberball task. The design was a 2 (exclusion vs. inclusion) x 2 (gay vs. heterosexual) between subjects. WMC was measured using the automated version of the operation span task (OSPAN). Results. The 2x2 ANOVA on WMC showed no significant main effects, but a significant two-way interaction. Under social exclusion, gay men had a lower WMC than heterosexual men. Under social inclusion, WMC of gay men and heterosexuals did not significantly differ. Conclusion. This work showed that sexual stigma could amplify detrimental consequences of social exclusion in terms of WMC. Findings point out that sensitivity to exclusion originating from sexual stigma not only affects how a person feels in response to exclusion, but how a person operates and self-regulates, because WMC is a fundamental executive function involved in basically all mental complex activities including self-regulation and self-control.