r/technology • u/Choobeen • 2d ago

Society Research shows the 'compliment sandwich' is no longer effective - University of Western Ontario

https://phys.org/news/2025-08-compliment-sandwich-longer-effective.html
2.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

264 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

59

u/Ruddertail 2d ago

It's anecdotal but basically everyone I've asked regardless of age says it's easier to accept criticism if there's something positive to go with it. Pure criticism triggers this reaction to reject it.

6

u/rwilcox 2d ago edited 2d ago

The problem with me is that now when I hear a compliment or something positive, I’m waiting for the “meat” of the compliment sandwich to drop.

So,stoked Sometimes they’re just being nice, and here I am bracing for the tear down.

2

u/LordKwik 2d ago

it doesn't always help when you're aware of it, but sometimes the good is genuine too. you can tell by how specific the compliment is.

2

u/SIGMA920 2d ago

That's kinda the issue, when you're used to having the good be pointless softener to the bad it all starts sounding fake.