Criticism needs to come with concern to be effective

The Horizons Tracker — 11 March 2024

“In the world of addressing ethics in business and society, people often criticize groups for doing wrong and ask them to change. When they do this, they usually point out the harm caused to a victim group and scold the wrongdoers, urging them to make amends.

However, there’s a problem: when messengers only show concern for the victim group, the group being criticized often wrongly thinks the messenger sees them as less moral and not worth caring about. This makes them less likely to accept the criticism and more likely to fight back. That was the finding of a recent study by Prof. Lauren Howe at the University of Zurich.

Dual concern

To solve this issue, the researchers suggest using a new approach called “dual concern messaging.” This means sending messages that both acknowledge the harm done by a group and show genuine concern for the well-being of that group.

The researchers did some experiments, and the results show that dual concern messages stop people from thinking the messenger doesn’t care about their morals. This makes the criticism more persuasive for the group being criticized and reduces the chances of a backlash from consumers against the messenger.

So, when you want to seek justice for victims and criticize a group, using dual concern messages, which show care for both the victim group and the group being criticized, works better. It creates an atmosphere where people are more open to criticism, instead of getting defensive, and paves the way for positive change.”

Article by Adi Gaskell