Mammalian brain · Social Drives & Status
Cutting Off Reflected Failure
Distancing yourself from a failing group, brand or person to protect your standing — often faster and less fairly than the facts warrant.
An everyday example
Dropping a vendor publicly after a bad news cycle, though their service to you never changed.
What it can cost you
Abandoning good relationships on reputational reflex; being abandoned the same way.
Warning signs
- I am distancing because of how it looks.
- Nothing changed except the coverage.
One thing to do
Judge on your own experience and the facts, not on the news cycle; if you must distance, do it on evidence.
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