APS
2025 APS Annual Convention · 2025
The Language of Social Rejection: How Deflections May Soften the Blow for Rejectors and Rejectees
- Gili Freedman
St. Mary's College of Maryland - Shannon Lutz
St. Mary's College of Maryland - Drew Sonnenberg
Johns Hopkins University - Sydney Okland
University of Texas at Austin - Jennifer Beer
University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
What language should people use to soften the blow of a social rejection? Across three studies (N1 = 497; N2 = 94; N3 = 1213), deflections (e.g., “nothing personal”) were commonly used, preferred over rejections without deflections, and helped both the rejector and rejectee feel better about the rejection.
Communication
