ABSTRACT
Hurt is an unhealthy negative emotion that a person is most likely to feel about the way that people significant to them behave. This chapter outlines the components of hurt and discusses each component in some detail. While a person can feel hurt about unfair or fair criticism, they are more likely to feel hurt about a significant other criticising them unfairly. In addition, the person is more likely to feel hurt about criticism that is directed to them as a person rather than criticism that is directed at their behaviour. What a person finds particularly hurtful about being rejected is often the undeserved nature of the rejection. In doing so, the person tends to remind themselves of all the good things that they have done for the other person and how they deserve far better. Being betrayed by someone close to the person is a key hurt-related inference.
