We examined if perceiving oneself as burdensome, due to performing poorly in a group, can lead to feelings associated with ostracism (being excluded and ignored), without actually being ostracized. Participants completed a typing game (Study 1) or solved Remote Associates Test (Study 2) items where they performed worse, equal, or better than the group. To isolate the influence of burdensomeness, participants were consistently selected by computerized agents to play. In each study, worse performers experienced greater perceptions of being burdensome, less basic need satisfaction, increased negative mood, and greater anticipation of being excluded from a future group task compared to equal or better performers. Additionally, despite reporting being included, poor performers experienced social pain. These results suggest that although feeling burdensome can lead to outcomes related to ostracism, feeling burdensome is a distinct experience. Consequently, feeling burdensome may be one of many aversive social experiences leading to decreased social well-being
