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If compliments make you feel super awkward, this comic is for you

Love your outfit! Great presentation! Cool glasses! When someone praises you, do you accept it? Or dismiss it?

Your reaction says a lot about how you feel about yourself, and it can affect how the other person feels too, say researchers.

Social psychologist Erica Boothby and behavioral scientist Xuan Zhao explain the science of compliments — and make the case for accepting someone's kind remarks about you.

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This comic was edited by visual editor Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

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Corrected: August 4, 2025 at 11:37 AM EDT
A previous version of this story misspelled Xuan Zhao's last name as Zhou.
Andee Tagle
Andee Tagle is a reporter-producer for NPR's Life Kit podcast.
Malaka Gharib is the digital editor of the NPR podcast Life Kit.
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