Journal of Personality Disorders, 32(1), 109-130, 2018 © 2018 The Guilford Press 109 From the Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton (M. S., M. F. L.); and the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City (M. F. L.). We thank Gregory Strauss, PhD, for useful consultations during protocol development. We thank Lauren Korfine, PhD, for review and commentary on the revision of this manuscript. This report is based on research conducted by Megan Savage in partial fulfillment for the Master of Sci- ence degree in psychology at The State University of New York at Binghamton. Address correspondence to Mark F. Lenzenweger, PhD, Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Science IV, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000. E-mail: mlenzen@binghamton.edu SAVAGE AND LENZENWEGER IMPACT OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION ON RMET PERFORMANCE THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION ON “READING THE MIND IN THE EYES” PERFORMANCE IN RELATION TO BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER FEATURES Megan Savage, MS, and Mark F. Lenzenweger, PhD In this study we used the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) to explore facial emotion recognition in borderline personality disorder (BPD). We also used Cyberball, a computerized task designed to mimic social ostracism, to examine the response of BPD-feature participants to social exclusion. Seventeen individuals with BPD features were compared to 16 healthy controls on RMET performance pre- and post-exclusion via Cyber- ball. Our results revealed a significant interaction between BPD-feature sta- tus and RMET performance in relation to neutral stimuli following a social exclusion experience. BPD participants’ ability to correctly identify neutral faces significantly decreased following exclusion. This finding suggests that once an individual with BPD features experiences a social exclusion event, his or her objectivity decreases and affective valence is ascribed to stimuli previously perceived as neutral. Our results may help to explain, in part, the social instability seen in BPD. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a highly impairing condition char- acterized by “a pervasive pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, inconsistent self-image, and instability in affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts” (Ameri- can Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013, p. 663). It affects approximately 1.4% of the United States population (Lenzenweger, Lane, Loranger, & Kes- sler, 2007), generates considerable service utilization (Bender et al., 2001), is associated with substantial societal costs (van Asselt, Dirksen, Arntz, & Severens, 2007), and requires specialized techniques for effective treatment (Clarkin, Levy, Lenzenweger, & Kernberg, 2007). Given that unstable inter- personal relationships are a cardinal component of BPD, it is important to try to understand the mechanisms underlying this aspect of the illness.