Wall Stree Journal. October 9, 2025. “It’s a familiar routine: You send somebody an invitation—to a party, a lunch, a meeting—and you wait for the reply. Yes or no. Or maybe.
My colleagues and I wanted to know the psychology involved with receiving (and giving) a “maybe.” Why do people answer invitations that way? And how do the invitation senders feel when they get that response?
The short answer: They hate it.