Criticism and insults cause psychological pain. But what is the right way to respond to it?
Scientists have revealed the best strategy for dealing with this situation.
Neuroscientists have found that the level of impact of insults and criticism on a person depends on both the “sender” and the “receiver,” writes BBC Science Focus .
If a person is being attacked, it is not worth ignoring. There is an effective way to neutralize the psychological threat once and for all.
One way is to present the offender as someone who is somehow inferior to you.
For example, you got a trendy haircut, but someone called it stupid. You can respond like this: "Okay, calm down, grandpa."
Just three words, and the offender is given the status of “old, unfashionable and out of touch with life.”
Another tactic is to take the insult but turn it to your advantage.
For example, someone said to you, “You are fat.” The answer might be, “Yes, I spent so much money to become like that.”
In fact, there are a number of ways to verbally put the offender in his place.
All of them are based on depriving the offender of power, in no way showing him that his phrases somehow affected you, scientists note.
Ignoring won't help you create that impression. But a sharp response will.
