Author: Begüm Babür, Ph.D. Student in Social Psychology, University of Southern California

Imagine finding out your friends hosted a dinner party and didn’t invite you, or that you were passed over for a job you were excited about. These moments hurt, and people often describe rejection in the language of physical pain. While rejection can be emotionally painful, it can also teach us something. I am a social psychology researcher, and research my colleagues and I have conducted shows that rejection can serve as a learning signal – shaping how people navigate relationships and decide whom to attempt to connect with in the future. What’s known about social rejection Researchers have long…