Using “you” to generalize from me to others

Psychology Sometimes “you” is used when addressing another person, but in many situations, “you” is used to indicate anyone or everyone—the generic “you.” Orvell et al. studied the underlying psychological function of the generic “you.” When asked to write about a past negative experience, people were more likely to distance themselves and derive meaning from the experience if tasked with using the generic “you” rather than the first-person pronoun “I.” Science , this issue p. [1299][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaj2014