Rejection Is Pain, and Our Instinct Is to Lash Out

Studies have shown that the anger of rejection makes us want to hurt other people. In one experiment, subjects first got rejected in a game of siber ball and then had a chance to lash out against a group of bystanders. Subjects who were rejected in the siber ball task poured more than four times as much hot sauce as people who didn't get dised. Given the potential for such dire consequences, guy argues that we need to learn how to treat rejection pain right away. If you leave it up to our mind to make the decision about what's the best way to heal an emotional wound, it will inadvertently send you down the rong path.