<P> The social psychologist Kipling Williams has written extensively on ostracism as a modern phenomenon . Williams defines ostracism as "any act or acts of ignoring and excluding of an individual or groups by an individual or a group". Williams suggests that the most common form of ostracism in a modern context is refusing to communicate with a person . By refusing to communicate with a person, that person is effectively ignored and excluded . The advent of the internet has made ostracism much easier to engage in, and conversely much more difficult to detect, with Williams and others describing this online ostracism as "cyberostracism". In email communication, in particular, it is relatively easy for a person or organization to ignore and exclude a specific person, through simply refusing to communicate with the person . Karen Douglas thus describes "unanswered emails" as constituting a form of cyberostracism, and similarly Eric Wesselmann and Kipling Williams describe "ignored emails" as a form of cyberostracism . </P> <P> Williams and his colleagues have charted responses to ostracism in some five thousand cases, and found two distinctive patterns of response . The first is increased group - conformity, in a quest for re-admittance; the second is to become more provocative and hostile to the group, seeking attention rather than acceptance . </P> <P> Research suggests that ostracism is a common reprisal strategy used by organizations in response to whistleblowing . Kipling Williams, in a survey on US whistleblowers, found that 100% reported post-whistleblowing ostracism . Alexander Brown similarly found that post-whistleblowing ostracism is a common response, and indeed describes ostracism as form of "covert" reprisal, as it is normally so difficult to identify and investigate . </P> <P> Qahr and Ashti is a culture - specific Iranian form of personal shunning, most frequently of another family member . Qahr and ashti are described by Dr. Kambiz Behzadi as: </P>

Ostracism is the basis for what in current american culture