<p>I just heard that when you criticize something objectively and even when other people agree that it is true, the people that heard your criticism may actually associate this negativity with YOU. What is this phenomenon called?</p>

<p>For example, if you comment on a metropolitan city, people tend to be impersonal, I heard people hearing your comment actually may associate "impersonal" with <em>you</em>. That actually is opposite to what might be expected, because if I mention people are impersonal, it should imply that I hope for the situation to be more personable, which mean I am not impersonal. So this is a big surprise if it is in fact true.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-16T11:24:39.937Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE. *"I heard people hearing your comment actually may associate "impersonal" with you."* You heard from where?
Chris Rogers
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2019-11-16T22:19:28.883Z
@ChrisRogers: Sounds like Mum effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Tesser#Interpersonal_Communication:_The_Mum_Effect
Quora Feans
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-17T06:12:28.650Z
@ChrisRogers it was from a YouTube video talking about interpersonal characteristics. It mentioned about this but didn't go too deeply into in.
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-18T17:41:31.307Z
@nopole please include a link to the YouTube video, and state who it is that authored it.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-18T03:00:05.617Z
Is this related to *Don't shoot the messenger*?
Michael
<psychology>
Is it known in human psychology that when you comment on something negatively but objectively, people may associate the negativity with YOU?
nonopolarity
# Is it known in human psychology that when you comment on something negatively but objectively, people may associate the negativity with YOU?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-16)

I just heard that when you criticize something objectively and even when other people agree that it is true, the people that heard your criticism may actually associate this negativity with YOU. What is this phenomenon called?

For example, if you comment on a metropolitan city, people tend to be impersonal, I heard people hearing your comment actually may associate "impersonal" with *you*. That actually is opposite to what might be expected, because if I mention people are impersonal, it should imply that I hope for the situation to be more personable, which mean I am not impersonal. So this is a big surprise if it is in fact true.

**Tags:** psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology.SE. *"I heard people hearing your comment actually may associate "impersonal" with you."* You heard from where?  
> **username_2**: @ChrisRogers: Sounds like Mum effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Tesser#Interpersonal_Communication:_The_Mum_Effect  
> **username_0**: @ChrisRogers it was from a YouTube video talking about interpersonal characteristics. It mentioned about this but didn't go too deeply into in.  
> **username_3**: @nopole please include a link to the YouTube video, and state who it is that authored it.  
> **username_4**: Is this related to *Don't shoot the messenger*?  

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## 0 answers

