Being excluded isn’t easy, but it does teach you about other people. (Image Source: iStock.)
Your brain learns from rejection — here’s how it becomes your compass for connection.
Rejection can feel physically painful. It also provides a lesson for your brain on whom to connect with and how.
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.